doctors appointment

Well, we finally had Ender's first doctors appointment yesterday. He is doing great. He was 13.8 pounds and a little over 25 inches. He is tall and lean. His weight is in the 35%. And his height was in the 79%. As normal Ender hated tummy time and the doctor was not impressed. He said we need to stress it, so as i speak Ender is on his pad huffing and telling me he wanted to be turned over. I am not concerned seeing how Julietta HATED tummy time as well.
Other than that, the only new thing is Ender has deceided finally to give us a belly laugh, but he has only done it twice and only for Randy and if I come up to see he stops!
Ender has had his first cold this week. He is a little grumpy but for the most part is such a well mannered baby. Even the people at the doctors office were like is he always this quiet. He didn't seem to mind anything they did until they got to the shots.

Ender is still loving bath time. Julietta loves to give him one. The other day I tried to bathe them together, this did not work out so well since Ender pretty much just floated and I coudln't even wash him up, but Julietta liked it a lot!

Also, I have been doing babywise for the past week. I have my sanity back!!!! Ender is now on track. He eats every 2 1/2 -3 1/2 hours and naps in between! I am still feeding him 7 times a day but he is doing so much better. He seems a lot more happy and I am MUCH more happy :) Two of those days I've managed to get their naps lined up and I actually had an hour to myself. With two I am finding it so much harder to keep the house looking the way I want. It almost feels like if I completly take care of the house and have some time for me then I'm being a bad mom, if I spend really good quality time with the kids and take care of the house then I have nothing left for me or for Randy, and then if I take the time for myself and spend quality time with the kids then I'm being a bad homemaker because the house suffers. It's frustrating, and i need/want to find a balance because obviously all things need to get done. Any tips from moms with multiple kids is appreciated!!!That's a pic of Ender showing how strong he is :)

my dad....

well today it's officially been a year since dad passed away. it's not as hard as i thought it would be. it's definitely hard to realize how much he has missed this year. he didn't even know i was pregnant and it's difficult to know that so much has happened in my life that he doesn't know. i still hope that god allows him a window to see main events. i've been trying to jog julietta's memory about him lately because i realize that she is forgetting. it's sad how life moves on. it makes me realize that it will eventually happen to all of us. someday i will die and eventually the people who love me will not mour everyday. that's a good thing but at that same time when you are going through something so painful you don't realize it will get easier and you almost don't want it to. and then you wake up a year later and realize that some days life is back to normal. yes i still miss him and yes i still cry about it sometimes, but there are days where sadly i don't think about it.
i am happy he's in better place and that i truely believe he is walking and talking again in heaven and is happy but it is still hard to think about his body being in the ground.
here's i think the last picture of julietta and dad:
i will always love him and miss the love of a father! RIP daddy..... i miss you :)

3 months.... well sorta!

I am falling behind on blogging! Ender was three months on November 28th. I still haven't taken him to the actual doctor, but I had a wic appointment this week and they weighed and measured him. He is almost 14 pounds and is 24 inches. That makes me feel good about how much milk he is getting. It has been a couple rough weeks with Ender. He has started to refuse to nap longer than 30 minutes and has been waking up a couple time during the night. So..... I am going to give babywise a good try again for about a week. After that, if it doesn't work and I can't get him on a schedule then I will say it's just him. However, I am about to crazy! Not knowning what is wrong with your child can be very depressing!
Ender is still a cutie! He loves to smile at all of us. He has learned to blow raspberries and loves it when we do it back to him! He mimicks us a lot with his mouth. I think he's going to talk early. But we shall see! Ender also has finally found his thumb and is sucking it to sleep. That's good! He is offically into 3-6 months clothes. He is still sleeping in our room because he gets up at least once a night to eat but most of the time two. We are still swaddeling him to sleep but leaving out his left hand so he can suck his thumb! He almost laughed the other day. It was right there but he hasn't done it yet and hasn't done a full belly laugh! I do have an appointment for him next week so we will know a lot more. I'm going to ask the doctor about his fussiness and sleeplessness but just make sure that nothing is really wrong. Other than that, he is still such a joy! I almost get frustrated in the midle of the night when he wakes up until he sees me and wiggles around and starts smiling really big! It's really sweet :)

8 week pictures!

I'm posting the pictures from Ender's 8 week session with Laura! She did a great job. Ender was pretty fussy and Julietta was refusing to take pictures.... so we are going to try to do another session at Christmas!

Halloween and 2 months!

Well happy halloween last week :) Julietta was Cinderella! We just took her around the neighborhood and to about 10 houses! She had a blast but was done after that, so thankfully we didn't get too much candy that I have to worry about limiting it a ton (or me eating a lot!). Here's the picture from that:

She really did have a blast, but she was just in a mood when we were taking pictures and was trying to be funny by not smiling :)
Really did just not get good pictures this year! Julietta's goodies!

Ender was two months old about a week and a half ago! I'm finding that I'm not as good about taking pictures on time and everything with the second as I was with Julietta. However, my sister did take some pictures of Ender when he was 8 weeks old and those will count as his 2 month pictures (even though they were his newborn pictures!).... wow I need to get better! But here's some pictures from around the time so you can see what he looks like now!


While Randy was in the field I went home to be with mom. It was really fun to be home for a while and just hang out with mom. We got to go up to visit my brother and his family and I got to see my friend Aby and her family as well. We also took Julietta to Jabbas Ranch. It's this Ranch in Fayetteville that has all these animals. Her favorite animals were the Camel and the Alligator but I didn't get any pictures of them because I was taking care of a massive blow out! Ahhh the joys of having a baby again :) hehe... Here are some pictures from that!
I wore Ender in my Bjorn the whole time so I had to get a picture of his face and what I was seeing!

One of Julietta's favorite books is Llama Llama Red Pajama so it was really funny to see this Llama!
That guy was kinda mean and scary!
This dog was bigger than Julietta and she LOVED it!!! The dogs name was Maggie and she would talk to her as we went.


I am also a bad mommy becuase Ender has not had his 2 month appointment. So I don't know how much he weighs or anything like that. I will schedule it next week and hopefully we will find out soon!!!! However, I can tell you he's a chunk!
Here's proof:

Life at the Mackey's lately

Life here has been pretty good. Randy is getting ready to go to the field next week for two weeks so that kinda sucks but not that bad. Ender has been doing great. He has slept through the night twice now, but it is not an every night thing. Hoping that starts soon! Julietta has been loving Awana. She loves to tell you her verse for the week and to try to get everyone around her to site it as well. All week she's been going up to people saying "Say, God is Love."
Ender has brightened up the day since he has started to smile. Here is a picture of it:
We are starting to have to let Ender cry it out to take a nap. He generally cries for about 10 minutes and then calms down to sleep. I've been swaddling him at night and that has caused him to sleep more (I think.) He still has a fussy time at night and I end up feeding him every 2 hours at night a lot. Really hoping that it gets better and he'll start going back to 2 1/2 hours. He just doesn't want to sleep in the afternoon.

We are in kind of a crisis right now since our house is still on the market for rent in Fayetteville. Coming this month we are going to have to pay the full mortgage. We obviously do not have the money to do this so we are a little concerned. If you think of it, send up a prayer that it rents out soon or that we can just sell it. I am considering getting a job at night and weekends which would help, but at the same time that will take away from the only time Randy and I have. So I guess on top of it all pray for wisdom in what we should do.

Other than that all is going great here and we are loving having 2 kiddios. Julietta is still doing wonderful with Ender. She loves to try and make him smile.

much loved visitors!

So, I'm a little late on blogging so going to try and get some done today. Two weekends ago we had some visitors! Randy's mom and grandma came out to see Ender and us. It was an unexpected and much wanted visit. We had a wonderful time. It was great to see them and just to spend some time with them. In our almost four years of marriage we haven't gotten to see much of his family and no one except for his Aunt Nancy got to see Julietta until this past Christmas so we were very excited that they got to meet Ender right away! Also it was great to see Julietta with them and that they got some bonding time with her.
We were able to just hang out a lot. We went to Williamsburg one day and walked around. Other than that we just did a lot of visiting.
Randy and I both are so thankful for the time we got with them, and it makes us want to visit all the more. Hopefully we'll be able to make it out to Colorado at some point but right now that just isn't an option.
Here's some pictures from the weekend :)
Julietta with her beloved Grandma Linda and Grandma Punkie!
4 Generations..... Mom-Daughter.... Mom-Son..... Father-Son
Grandma Linda and Julietta playing out back digging and making flowers!
at Williamsburg!
With a really old guy! Randy is doing the Captain stance!

nursing strike over!

Sooooo, exciting news today. Randy's mom is an angel :) She got Ender to latch on to just me and has been nursing all day. It might be a rough couple days getting him able to get out as much as he was getting in the bottle, and getting my supply up even more, but.... he can do it, and is doing it! I am so exciting and amazed. I seriously thought there was no hope with a month old baby who never did it, but here we are 5 weeks in and he is nursing :) Serious answer to prayer!

One Month Old!

Ender is a month old! I can't believe how fast time flies. 4 weeks before my due date dragged on. That was the longest month, and it just seems ridiculous that it's already been a month since we had him! He is doing great. Yesterday he actually nursed on the shield for 3 feedings. This is crazy since it's been about 3 weeks since I nursed him. However, he's not getting the same amount of food that way. He went about 3 hours and when I checked his diaper he hadn't peeded at all. So, I'm just not sure it's going to work. I might try to meet with a lactation consultant again though since he did go onto the shield. I think the only way it'll work is if I can get him off of the shield. Anyway other than that he's doing great. He eats about 4 ounces every 3 hours. At night he was going from 11 until 5:30 and then 9. However, the past couple days he's backed it up a little bit to 11 until 4:30 and then 8. Maybe growth spurt? Anyhoo, babywise seems to be working great! We are having a bit of colic which I was not prepared for since Julietta NEVER cried! Ender pretty much on cue screams after his 8ish feeding until his 11 one. Not much can calm him down at all. Every other time he's upset me holding him or his binky works, however at night nothing. Sometimes Randy can calm him down by laying him on his chest, but this does not always work, nor is Randy always able to!

I am pretty much healed! I haven't lost any more weight so I'm about to start "dieting". I have about 6 weeks of nutrisystem left that I am going to start next week. I also have starting doing my walking workout video since I'm not supposed to work out yet, I don't want to do anything more strenuous than that. However, I think I would like to order P90X and really get in shape. I want to be thin obviously but I really want some muscle tone back. But other than that, my incision is completely healed. I still am a little sore if you push on my stomach but not bad. However, the bad news is my pelvic pain has not gone away. It went away right after and was amazing. However, I had a night where I went to the ER because I started bleeding bad again and every since that doctor "examined" me I've had pelvic pain again. So, I need to talk to the doc about that.

Julietta is doing amazing. She loves Ender so much! We have enrolled her into Awana. I have posted a pic below of her in her uniform! When I picked her up last night from Awana I had left Ender home with Randy and she broke down in the car and was so sad he wasn't there with her. I am thankful that she is so attached to him! She loves to be around kids and just thrives in that environment. She loves going to a "class." I go to my church every Tuesday for something called mom2mom. It's sort of like our church's version of mops except it's not just for preschool moms. I have loved getting to know some women in our church and also just getting out. Julietta loves it too because she goes to kid2kid and has a ball!

Randy and I have enjoyed our church more and more each sunday. We keep meeting people and this past Tuesday we attended a small group. It's just nice to get around nice christian couples. We were sad that our close friends that lived down the street moved this past week. That has been a sore topic for Julietta too since those were her friends. The other night she asked again to go over there and I had to remind her that they moved, and she goes "but I love them!" Randy's Grandmother and Mother are coming today! I am so excited that they get to meet Ender and we get to see them again! I feel spoiled that we will get to see Randy's Mom 3 times in one year. We did not get to see her or any of the family for the first 3 years of our marriage so this is a blessing. I will post more on that visit and some photos but for now here is a one month picture!

doc appointment

well today i had ender's "2 week" appointment which might as well be 3. but he weighed 8 pounds and 10 ounces! he was also 22 inches long. so he's a growing boy. he's in the 75% for weight and 90% for height. go buddy :)
then julietta weighed 29 pounds and was 37 inches. she's in the 30% for weight and in about the 50 or 60% for height. which is what she's always been so that's great.
so my kids are growing great!!!!!!!

2 weeks old!

me and buddy man at 2 weeks old :)

wearing his outfit from baby gap :)

Hard to believe that he's 2 weeks old today. He's doing wonderful. Still only eating from the bottle, but eating and sleeping like a champ. That's all that we can ask for is a healthy baby boy!

ender update #2

So, it's been a rough couple days. We've been pumping Ender full of formula and extra breastmilk all weekend. So feedings were taking about an hour if not more. Then all of a sudden yesterday he decided that he didn't like nursing. We could not get him latched on at all. So I spent a lot of this past weekend in tears and just so frustrated and worn out. So we gave him a bottle after about an hour and a half trying to get him latched on and he downed it. So for the moment I have given in and have been just pumping to give him my milk in a bottle.
I will meet with a lactation consultant this week and see if we can ever get him back on me. But, I just can't be stressing like I was. I could not deal with it with dealing with Julietta too. I haven't cried in 24 hours and feeding times have been great! Ender has been so happy too. Last night I fed him at 10:30 ; 3:30; and then at 8:00. I got a ton of sleep, so today has been great.
We took him to the hospital to get weighed and...... he was 7 pounds 4.6 ounces :) YAY!!!!!!! I wish I had my camera while we were at the hospital because when we put him on the scale he was hilarious. He stayed asleep and just propped his leg up on the side for all to see and was just the chillest of babies!
We then went to target, and Julietta LOVED hanging out in our double stroller with Ender!
On the other note I'm down 20 pounds! I have 10 more until pre-pregnancy weight and then I'll have about 30 that I want to lose before next June!
I will post some more pictures I promise!

ender update

So Ender is 5 days old today. He is doing pretty good. We had a doctors appointment this morning and he is down to 7 pounds. He has lost 9% of his weight. So the doc is a little concerned and we have to go back in on Friday and check it out again. Mom left today so we shall see how we do without her! I'm not as worried because Julietta lost over a pound and then gained it slowly. I'm just praying that everything goes well and he's gained a little bit by Friday. My milk is in and he's doing really good with feeding. We are having some issues getting him latched on at first but Randy has a hang on getting him to latch.
The first two nights at home were rough. He wanted to stay up all night. One night he was up from 12 until around 4 am.
Randy has been WONDERFUL! He has been up with me at every feeding and helping. He's straight worn out so I'm waiting for him to just pass out. We've come to realize that God gives women something extra to get them through this time! Thank God that was have husbands now who will help :)
Julietta loves being a big sister. She wants to look at him all the time and help out. She is a little more sensitive to being told no. I'm hoping that it passes.
I am feeling pretty good. Randy thinks I'm pushing it a little too much, so I'm going to try and take it pretty easy. However, again I feel pretty great. I haven't even taken my percocet today.
Anyway, I will upload some more photos later :)

Ender Alexander

He's finally here!!!! I don't have time, or feel like it, for a long post but I just wanted to post some of the details! We were scheduled for a 7:30 c-section on August 28th. We had to arrive at the hospital at 5:30. We were in the prep room from 5:30 until 7:20. I almost thought that they wouldn't do it on time because it was so late. However, I didn't realize that with a scheduled c-section they'd do the epidural in the operating room. So at 7:20 they came and walked us down to the OR and it went really fast from there. I got the epidural, it went pretty good, and then they put the catheter in which was horrible! And then they prepped me and by the time I was prepped I was numb and ready to go. They started cutting, Randy came in, and they pulled baby boy out at 8:06 am! My epidural was great. I was numb to pain but could always move my toes. With Julietta I was numb from the shoulders down and it was really heavy. This one was just the waist. This means I could feel all the pressure and the prodding but it wasn't so bad. Randy said they had a hard time pulling him out and so at one point there was about 7 hands in me! They also had to use some forsepts on his head to get him out. I think this might have been because he was so low. They got his head out, and didn't even have to spank him he started screaming right away. He was still half in me and was crying! I don't think he wanted to come out yet :) Anyway, they then cleaned him up a little bit. I got to hold him which was wonderful! My arms were not tied down. Then Rands took him to the nursery with the doctor. I was in recovery by 9:00. I stayed there until 10:00. The epidural started wearing off on the right side so they had to get it right because I was feeling pain just on that side. Then I was taken up to my room and within about 5 minutes Ender was brought into the room! I couldn't get him to latch on, so sadly we are on the shield again. I have hope that we'll get off of it in two weeks. I will meet with another lactation consultant than to make sure that happens. But he is doing great on the shield so I'm thankful for that. Oh, Ender weighed 7.11 oz and was 20 inches tall. Almost a full pound heavier than Julietta and an inch shorter! Randy and I had a bet and I won. I thought he'd be 8 pounds and he thought 7.5! He has dark hair too, blue eyes (know these will change!). He also was pretty white with some peeling skin. The doc said they see this a lot with dark skinned babies so I'm thinking he might have my skin ton, but we'll see. Those Librande genes are really strong!
Mom then brought Julietta over. She was a little shocked at first! She's warmed up a lot though :) She likes to hold him, but really likes to look at him and see his eyes! She's struggling a little bit though, so prayer in that area would be much appreciated!
Ender got circumsiced Saturday morning. It went well, but the rest of the day I could not get him to nurse. This was a little frustrating. By Sunday morning he was down to 7 pounds 2 ounces so we did suppliment a little formula through a syringe. I wish we hadn't had to do this, but his health is most important. However, this last feeding he did really well! My milk still hasn't come in, but I have lots of colostrum. I'm hoping that the milk will come in soon.
That's all I can think of for now, but I'll post more later. He's adorable and about the most snuggly little thing ever! We may go home today, or it might be tomorrow morning.
I will post more pictures later :)

38 weeks!

Well folks, we are having a baby for sure this week :) Today is Monday and Friday at 7:30 the c-section is scheduled! I don't have a photo yet, but I promise to take one before we go in to have the exact size I got to! I am nervous. I think I'm mostly nervous just because it's surgery but still the thought of going in and having to get the epidural while not in labor is kinda scary. I would actually love if Thursday night my water breaks so it's more of a surprise but I don't think so. I'm not really feeling anything like labor is near so I think I'll make it till Friday. The cool thing is Randy gets 10 free days of leave and they aren't going to start it until Monday as long as it's Friday. So as much as I'm ready to have Ender I would like to wait until Friday so we get as much time with Randy off as possible!
I have Ender's bag all packed for the hospital. I brought a number of clothes, since we'll be there for a while I think I will most likely want to change him. I have not packed our bags however. The problem is I don't have that many things that fit anymore so I'm wearing them a lot, and they are always getting washed. Mom is coming Thursday afternoon. We have to be at the hospital at 6:00am so I figured by the time Julietta wakes up and mom gets her ready they can just head over to the hospital and we'll be back in the room! I can't wait to see Julietta's face when she sees baby brother :) Randy is going to stay at the hospital with me, but Saturday or Sunday he's going to switch for a little bit so he can spend some time with Julietta and mom can come to the hospital with me.
I'm super excited! It's crazy that it's only 4 days away. I just can't wait to be holding my little baby boy at the end of this week! I know these days are going to go by sooo slow. It's always when you get to the end of things that you can't believe you are here, and at the same time when I realize we found out we were pregnant over Christmas out at Nan and James it seems FOREVER ago!

Prayer Requests:
Ender will be a good eater!
Latching on will go easy!
SLEEP!
His circumcision will go smoothly!
Julietta's adjustment!
Randy and I will adjust to two quickly to get back to being able to give each other the attention we need!

37 weeks and nursery :)

crib with the star wars pics i ordered....
chair with blanket, and an awesome star wars RM painting :)
gotta have bubba in the room right?! and notice the bubba bobble head!
the rug, and the crib, and changing table. i love the boxes. i never had any with julietta and it makes me like the changing table so much more!

and the giant belly at 37 weeks :)

WHAT'S UP WITH US:
well not much is going on! i'm full term which is awesome! at this point he's just adding weight :) i'm very uncomfortable, and in a nice amount of pain, but i'm trying to remind myself that we are almost done. i had a doctors appointment today. met the doctor for the first time. i like him. he's not dr. simpson down in florida but he's nice enough! he checked me because i told him about the contractions i've been having and the fact that i lost my plug, but i'm still closed! when i told randy this his response was just that i don't open :) On "kinda" (i say "kinda" because i'm not sure if it'll really become a problem or not?!) a bad note my antibody tighter has gone up. it's still not high enough to cause a problem yet and they think that it won't get that high in the next week. i have to get it checked again this week and next to see. also in the ultrasound my fluid was a little bit low. i'm not sure what this means. also ender didn't move enough in the ultrasound so his "breathing" movements were low? again, not sure what this means. all this to say is tomorrow i have to go to the hospital to get another nonstress test and again on friday. i see the doctor next tuesday for my last appointment! if all goes as planned at these appointments then the c-section is set for august 28th at 7:30am!!!!!! not too bad, 10 days left. i'm so ready and sick of being pregnant that i keep hoping everyday my water will break, but i'm going to try and get some patience and realize that 10 days is nothing!
other than that, we are just trying to "nest". we have got a lot done, but there still needs to be some stuff. our new couches are coming next wednesday! so super excited about that! julietta turns 3 on friday! i can't believe it. i'll do a seperate post about that :)
i'll keep posting after all these doctors appointments and we'll keep u up todate on everything! pray for patience becuase i'm out of it :)

36 weeks

Well folks we have at max 15 days left of little Ender Alexander in the belly! And boy am I thankful. I am quite done! I feel HUGE, and am in all kinds of pain all the time. I've been having a decent amount of strong contractions everyday, but they always go away in about an hour. I don't have a doctors appointment this week so I don't have anything to report on that. I'll see the doctor on the 17th. This will be the first time I meet him, so I'm hoping that goes all well.

Randy got to come home early! He got home yesterday. I'm so thankful. Being this pregnant and taking care of Jules has been kind of hard. And this way, if something happens early we won't have to worry about getting him home.

I got to go to Maryland this weekend. I was so happy! Everyone got to meet Julietta and I got to see everyone. I wish Randy could've gone with me but we live pretty close now. DC traffic made it a little bit longer, but still close enough to go up for a weekend!

I'm getting pretty annoyed at strangers saying comments about how massive I am. I can't wait for that to be done! I almost hit this woman at McDonalds. She came out and asked me if it was twins, and then when I said no went back and laughed about it with her friend. So annoying. I'm fine with the simple comments of "I bet you can't wait!" or "You must be so uncomfortable." But seriously some of these people might as well just come up and call me fat ass!

Ender is moving a lot these days. I think my fluid level is slowly getting lower and he's getting bigger because of how I can feel him. His room is almost done. I know I keep saying that but I promise I will get pictures up this week! I packed his bag for the hospital in my awesome diaper bag that mom got me for my birthday! So I just need to pack my bag! We are praying that he comes sooner than the 28th, but if not we still don't have much longer to go!

35 weeks

So there you have the belly this week! Still no more weight gain, which I'm VERY thankful for. The less I have to lose after the better! One of my best friends just got engaged!!!!!!! But it gives me another goal to be skinny for :) I have a goal and a timeline that's very reasonable, and I'm excited to get started on it! As you can see the belly comes straight out unlike with Julietta where I was kinda round everywhere! This is great and all, but has given me a couple new stretch marks :(
What's up with us?!
Well, Randy is still gone. Julietta and I miss him like crazy. I am almost done with the nursery! I'm putting up the pictures tomorrow night so next post I'll post pictures! I'm thinking about packing our bags this week just to be ready. I went to fayetteville this past weekend, and that was a wonderful break. Made those 5 days fly by. Mom is coming up here tomorrow and we are going to Maryland on Friday. I'm so excited to see the Saavedra family :)
What's up with baby?!
Well still dropped, obviously! I had the doctor go ahead and check me out today because I've been feeling some bad cramping and am just really aware of that whole area so I wanted to know if it was in my head or something was going on. Well my cervix is closed so no dilation yet, but I am 70% effaced. On a gross note my plug is slowly coming out. And my colostrum came in this weekend. I was super excited about that because that didn't even come in right away with Julietta so at least things in that area are going well so far! The doctor also said she could feel his head during the exam! CrAzY!!!!!! She went ahead and did an ultrasound to check fluid and everything looks great there. She couldn't tell me how big he was exactly, but said that he was most likely still on tract to be a pound or two bigger than Etta.

Well that's it for now, If anything is different on Friday I will post it :)

fun appointment

So i just wanted to share with family about my fun appointment today! i lost a pound since last visit. and the visit before that i hadn't gained anything, so that's exciting. hopefully i can maintain this weight until the end! another cool thing my blood pressure was back down to 120/70! that's exciting! and the most exciting thing is that baby boy has already dropped. i actually measured smaller this week because he is so far down! his head is down with his back on my right side. she said that normally second pregnancies don't drop at all until it's labor time. so she said it's very possible that he'll be in the 37/38 week like julietta. that might just be my body's time to do it! they won't schedule a c-section that early, however if i go into labor they will just do the c-section that day! if i don't go into labor early it looks like his birthday will be august 28th! so that's the update!!!!!

34 weekers!

Well here's my belly shot from this week. I took it today so at 34 weeks and 3 days! Not much has changed! I'm still going to the doc two times every week. The nonstress test are going well. Little boy is keeping us on our toes. Friday he was moving a lot and they only had to have me hooked up for about 15 minutes. Then Tuesday I think he was sleeping and so I was hooked up for about an hour! I'm feeling about the same. Very uncomfortable and ready to have him! I'm so hot too. I can't sleep with covers on at all or I will wake up almost like I'm in the tropics. Sunday at church I was visiblly sweating. Almost a little embarassing! His kicks have slowed down to me just really feeling him move around. I think he's a lot lower than Julietta ever was. I can feel movement a lot lower, and thankfully I'm not really feeling anything in the ribs (knock on wood!) My feet have been swelling this week like crazy!
Randy is still gone obviously! Julietta is bored out of her mind because I can't do that much. Her favorite thing to say is "when baby brother comes and your small again you can do it, right?!" Yes, that is true :)
I refuse to believe those women that love being pregnant. I mean I know there are some, but I can't imagine it! The kid at the end is totally worth it, but seriously if pregancy was only 9 weeks I would LOVE it!!!!!
Alright, enough complaining! Randy and I were talking the other night and it's funny because we both imagine Ender to have dark hair. I think it would be awesome if he was dark with my eyes! I just hope he doesn't get my short size :) I can't wait to hold him. Less than 5 weeks!!!!! If my blood pressure keeps going up they may take him at 37 weeks or 38 so maybe sooner. I would love it, and Randy would love to come home early too. We miss him like crazy! Julietta talks about daddy working in the ocean all the time. We just weren't ment to be in the military. I love having him home a little too much! I guess it could be worse. I could be excited he's gone and he could be having a blast and not missing us!
That's about all that's going on with us! I'm going to fayetteville this weekend to finally get my hair cut and hang out with mom. I've got to get a couple more things for the nursery and then I will post pics of that soon :)

not long!

So I realized that I don't have that much longer to go. I know that the last weeks always feel like another trimester in and of themselves, but..... we are getting so close! Randy and I both are getting so excited :) So we have 29 days until Randy gets home, and we most likely will have him sometime in the next week after he gets home, which leaves it at around 36 days until we will be holding him! CRAZY!!!!!! I'm not doing anything this weekend, but next weekend I'm going down to fayetteville friday after my nonstress test and then coming back up here on tuesday because of course i have another nonstress test! Then mom is coming up here probally thursday and we are going to maryland on friday! The Saavedra side of my family is having a big reuion for my grandpa's 80th birthday and since I haven't seen them since we got married (gasp!) I really need to get up there! Mom's coming with because it's probally best I don't do a lot of traveling by myself, and she'll get to visit some of her friends that are up there! Anyway, all this to say is the next two in half weeks are going to fly by with all this going on, which will bring us to like august 10th when I'll get back here. And then it'll be 13 days until Randy gets home! WOW :) Anyway, 5 1/2 weeks seems like forever, until I can have baby boy, but I think it'll go by faster than I'm thinking (at least I hope!)

julietta being funny!

so this is kinda gross but it was so hilarious that i have to share it! julietta talks about baby brother being in her belly and how big she's getting and she tries to hear his heartbeat in her belly. so yesterday she was pooping and she goes "ohhhh baby brother is coming out!" haha!!!!!! i mean seriously?! but kinda funny that she thought of pushing him out that way! i thought it was smart, gross, but just really funny!

33 weeks 2 days belly pic :)

33 weeks!

what's up with us:
well, again i don't have a picture to go up, but i thought i'd write about this past week while i was thinking about it! last week started the nonstress test. the one on tuesday went good. the one on friday however was a different story. i believe what happened was he moved and the monitor was picking up my heartbeat but they couldn't be sure, so it appeared that his heartbeat went down to 90 which would be really not good. so they sent me over to labor and delivery to be monitored for about 2 hours. i was going to take julietta because randy is out of town and i don't really have anyone up here, but they said if they had to do a c-section then they would call social services if no one was there with her. so, i called a friend and she was leaving town but she delayed her plans for me (thank God). so at the hospital everything looked fine with baby so they let me go after 2 hours. on my way to pick julietta up, i got rearended! talk about a bad day :) i'm okay, and the car isn't bad at all so it could have been a lot worse. however, friday made me worry about the rest of this pregnancy with not being near family and randy not being here. so i'm just praying that everything else goes smoothly.
other than that all is good. i'm so happy to have julietta back! she was so cute when she saw me, and then she's been very worried about me leaving ever since. but she doesn't really get that randy isn't coming home for a while so that's kinda sad. she keeps looking out the window watching for his car. he will be home in 34 days as long everything goes to plan and i don't have the baby before then. oh and then my blood pressure was 140/90 at the doctors office but when i was at the hospital it was lower. i don't know what the deal is with it! i wish it would make up it's mind :)
little boy is running out of room! he moves but not as much. if it's true about gaining half a pound a week then he's about at 5 1/2 pounds! crazy :) because of his heartbeat they didn't do a normal appointment and so i don't know how i measured or anything like that. i was going to ask them about steroid patches for the pelvic pain. it's getting to the point of extreme! the nursery is almost done, so i will post pictures of that soon! we still need some items before he arrives, but i'm taking it easy on buying anything else right now! we are getting close! 6 more weeks before they for sure take him, and i'm praying and thinking 5! we are so ready! it's crazy to think that our miscarriage would have been due over 4 weeks ago.
what's up with baby:
babycenter says : This week your baby weighs a little over 4 pounds (mines more!) and has passed the 17-inch mark. He's rapidly losing that wrinkled, alien look and his skeleton is hardening. The bones in his skull aren't fused together, which allows them to move and slightly overlap, thus making it easier for him to fit through the birth canal. These bones don't entirely fuse until early adulthood, so they can grow as his brain and other tissue expands during infancy and childhood.

i will post a belly picture later ;)

belly photo from 32 weeks and 2 days! GETTING BIG!

32 weeks

Well I don't have any pictures to upload right now, but I thought I'd go ahead and update the blog anyway. This past week was good. Randy was busy at work and getting ready to leave. We got to visit our good friends up here that just had their baby. Made me want ours even more! Holding him, I realized how ready I am. Not that I'm just ready to be done with pregnancy (I AM!) but I just want to hold him and see what he looks like! Randy feels the same way, we just can't wait to see his face and see if he looks like Julietta or like me! haha.
Randy left this morning bright and early. Super sad. This will be the longest we've ever been apart. His flight gets in August 23rd! They said they'll fly him back early if we need him too. Julietta flies into Raleigh tonight!!!!! I'm so stinking excited to see her :) It's been way too long! I'll stay with Al and Laura tonight and hopefully tomorrow night. I have to come back here on Thursday though because I have another nonstress test on friday morning. But since Thursday is my birthday I will be back here by myself!
We had our first nonstress test today. It went well. It was an hour long of sitting in a chair listening to his little heartbeat go up and down. It was a little low, but they weren't worried. My fluid level checked out fine too. My blood pressure was actually down a little bit more! Could be because it was bright and early and I was laying down, but we'll see! I have another nonstress test friday and a normal appointment.
Baby boy is moving around a lot. My stomach moves from side to side a lot! Still having braxton hicks, and they've started to cause some radiating back pain. Switching sides at night has become almost comidically funny, because it's so hard and so painful!
We did some baby shopping before Randy left. We bought a double stroller. We just got a combi twin. I like it! It's small enough to fit through doors but it's side by side which is what i like. It doesn't have the air pump tires which I really wanted but I really didn't want to spend 500 dollars on a stroller. Then we found a convertable car seat on clearance. I'm super picky about car seats and having the safest one. Julietta has a britax which is one of the top two safest car seats. The other is a recaro. They are super expensive, but I believe you can't put a price on that. So I went looking online at car seats because I don't feel the infant car seat is cushy enough and I found a recaro on closeout because of the color for more than 50% off. We were super stoked! The nursery is almost done. I ordered some star wars prints too, but they haven't come in and I need to buy some frames. I will post pics as soon as I'm done!
Okay, so now that I've rambled on and on! Oh and one last thing we have decieded to for sure not try for a VBAC. I've been thinking about it because well this will most likely be our last one, and I kinda wanted to try. But I did a lot of research on it, and it just wouldn't be a good idea for us. The likelyhood of a ruptured uterus (even though it's small), is just something that I don't want to risk. Also since my labor was so hard last time and I never dialetd it makes the likelyhood that the same thing will happen again which will just exhaust me! So anyhoo, that's that! I'll post pics of the belly, room, and julietta's room soon!

31 weeks

Here's the photo of my belly this week! Today someone at the grocery store was like oh wow your close to the end huh? When are you due? And I was like end of August/beginning September and she goes "Oh wow, doesn't look like you'll make it that far huh?!" Seriously? There needs to be a guide book of what you can say to pregnant women. We don't like to hear how big we are! haha.
What's up with us:
Well Julietta left on Wednesday. I cried for about 30 minutes and Randy was thinking we made a big mistake because he thought I'd be like that the whole time. Then when I talked to her on the phone that night I cried because I missed her little voice! But, since then I haven't really cried. I wanted to when she said she wanted to come see me tonight the other night, but I've been okay! Randy is leaving the 14th before she gets home, so he's super bummed because he won't see her until August 23rd. BUT..... we've had a great time together just the two of us! We went to see Transformers on IMAX the other night, and have been hanging out and shopping together! We bought couches the other day! They will be arrive in about 6 weeks, so I'll have to hold them off until Randy gets home! Other than that, nothing much is new with us. Julietta will get home Tuesday and I can't wait!!!!
What's up with baby boy:
He's super active. My doctors appointment went well. I had gained about 2.5 pounds since last visit. His heart rate was 150 which is great! My antibody has gone back up a little bit. They are still not worried and don't think it'll be a problem, but they have to keep an eye on it. I start my stress tests on Tuesday. My glucose test came back good too, as did my iron. Other than that nothing is to report. The midwife said he's big, and it might come into play later but we'll see. I'm praying for August 25th!!! I've been having a lot of pain and braxton hicks have started and some of them are painful. Other than that I'm okay!

That's about it for now :)

holy huge baby

Well today was our ultrasound. Randy could not make it and it's good that he didn't. She did it so fast and was really just measuring little man to make sure he was on track. OH BOY IS HE!!!! He weighs 4 pounds already! This is after mom and I went shopping today and bought 4 newborn outfits. haha! They will accept them for return as long as I don't take the tags off, so I will not be washing everything before this time. And I guess since he could still come early, he might need them! The normal is about 1/2 a pound a week from here out (he gained more than normal so I don't know if that means that he'll gain more than 1/2 a pound.) But even still, if he's in there for 9 more weeks and gains 1/2 a pound a week he'll be over 8 pounds! The ultrasound lady was like yeah, but that's normal size baby. She said this after I was like holy huge baby, and then I told her what Julietta weighed and she was like oh yeah... he'll be A LOT bigger! Other than that everything was good. His head is down, with his face facing my back so we couldn't even see his face. I took the glucose test today and got another tighter run on my antibody. So we'll see how that goes.

30 weeks

Here is a 30 week picture! I don't like it so I might change it out later in the week :)
WHAT UP WITH US:
Well, my mom is coming today! Then because the doctor isn't going to allow me to travel at all I can not go to Michigan with mom. So, mom is actually going to take Julietta with her. So Julietta is going to go to Michigan without me for 2 weeks! I'm kinda sad, and a little nervous. After a night of being emotional and crying about it, I've gotten some peace and I think it'll be great. I will miss her like crazy and not sure how I'll handle it but some good things will come of it. Julietta will get to have a great two weeks! She gets to meet cousins and see Bethany Beach which was my main goal. She won't have to deal with me being laid up and not having fun! Also, I get two weeks of rest! I'm going to spoil myself a little with stuff I never get to do. Also Randy and I will get to have some date time by ourselves without kids (it'll be a long time before that happens!) Also, I get to go to some of my appointments by myself and take it easy which will be good for my blood pressure.
Other than that, Randy leaves on the 18thish for Florida. He will be coming back on the 23rd of August. Not to say that it'll happen like last time, but Julietta was two weeks early, and that will be 38 weeks. So, I'm praying that he'll be able to be here!
I'm feeling okay. I'm ready to pop! I feel HUGE! I'm starting to waddle a little bit. The pelvic pain is pretty bad, but I'm trying to deal with it. Little boy moves a lot, it's quite fun to watch my stomach move all around!
WHAT'S UP WITH BABY:
Baby's about 15.7 inches long now, and he weighs almost 3 pounds. A pint and a half of amniotic fluid surrounds him, but that volume will decrease as he gets bigger and takes up more room in your uterus. His eyesight continues to develop, though it's not very keen; even after he's born, he'll keep his eyes closed for a good part of the day. When he does open them, he'll respond to changes in light but will have 20/400 vision — which means he can only make out objects a few inches from his face. This is a picture of what he looks like in my belly :)
We have an ultrasound tomorrow, so if I get pictures I will post them :)

29 week pic

The one in the black dress is from week 28 but I had to post it because Julietta is sooo dag on cute in it!

doctors visit....

So, I don't have a picture yet but I thought I'd at least write about the doctors appointment this past Friday. On good news I gained about 4 pounds in 7 weeks so thankful that that slowed down some! On other kinda not so good news my blood pressure was up some more. It was at 130/84. They didn't freak out, but said well we'll worry about it once it hits 140/90. So, I'm thinking that's getting pretty close especially with how it went up with Julietta and how it was 110 or something when this pregnancy started. On other news, they referred me to a perinatal doctor up here. They should be calling me this week to schedule another ultrasound to check the blood flow and everything again. Also on another note, they are going to start scheduling nonstress tests at 32 weeks. They are once a week and two different places. I'm not sure if that means I have to go twice a week or if it's going to be a long day every week! The thing that stinks is Randy is leaving soon after that, and actually even if he were here, Julietta is going to have to come with me. We'll have to figure out something for her to do fun. My appointments are now every two weeks. So I'm just trying to figure out if I can go to Michigan and how long I can stay. I might have to fly back becuase mom's mom isn't doing so well so she wants to stay longer. Not sure if you can fly with high blood pressure or what they want. Hopefully I'll get an answer about that soon. Randy and I are going to do a tour of both hopsitals so we can deciede on which one we want to deliver at.
On other news, we found a church we loved! It's a church of probally about 500 members. It has a big church feel, but isn't that big. The music was great, upbeat but not charasmatic. But the great thing was the pastor. He graduated from Dallas, so oviousbly he was great! I really enjoyed it, and it was the first time I've been to church in a long time that I got something out of it! Everyone was super super friendly, and Juleitta LOVED the sunday school. We actually had to stay longer because she wasn't done playing and doing her crafts! The stinky thing is they don't have anything to do during the week for me or Julietta but that's okay. There's a HUGE baptist church that does MOPS and AWANA. I think I'm going to do both in the fall.
Anyway, other than that nothing much is up. Randy goes back to work tomorrow :( We're sad about that, but it had to end at some point! haha.

28 weeks

WHAT'S NEW WITH US:
This week marks the last week that Randy has off of work. Julietta and I are going to miss him when he goes back to real life! We found out that he is leaving on the 21st for Florida. They will send him back sometime for the baby. Our first doctors appointment is on Friday, so we'll find out more of what they'll say about c-section and all that! Then Randy found out he is going somewhere for 3 months in January. Will help me get baby weight off! My goal is to be back to what I was before pregnancy by Christmas, and then back to my ideal weight when he gets back from that mission. Luckily, I have a friend here who is pregnant and she'll keep me on track because she wants to get really skinny too! Julietta and I went to the zoo this past week in Norfolk. We went with my friend and her two girls and it was great. It's not that big, so it's a great day trip! I plan to take the kids there a lot ;) Randy started school this week. He is very excited to get this degree underway! I bought a few clothing items for little boy. We still need to get more stuff for the nursery, and lots of miscellaneous items. I can tell that my blood pressure is already becoming an issue again. I've had a couple of "blackout" moments. I'm looking forward to talking to the doctor about that. But because of that, I'm pretty sure that I'll have the c-section by 38 weeks. That is my bet! Just hopefully not on the 21st, I'd really like them to not have the same birthday :) If that's the case though, we have less than 10 weeks! CRAZY :)

How your baby's growing:

By this week, your baby weighs two and a quarter pounds and measures 14.8 inches from the top of his head to his heels. He can blink his eyes, which now sport lashes. With his eyesight developing, he may be able to see the light that filters in through your womb. He's also developing billions of neurons in his brain and adding more body fat in preparation for life in the outside world.
This week has been a fun one for me pregnant, because I not only feel the kicks and other movements, you can see like body parts and I can feel him more around. You can see the big movements too!

27 weekers

Well we are almost all settled in. No boxes left in the house!!! a whoo hoo :) We got my doctor sorted out after A LOT of talks with tricare and I have an appointment on the 19th. I ended up switching our coverage to the kind that allows me to pick my doctors but I have to pay small co-pays. We went with it because we were having so much trouble with the full coverage one. Then on full coverage I had to get permission to have a c-section. So... needless to say we're okay paying about 15 dollars a night for the hospital :)
Baby boy is growing like a weed. As am I! I didn't gain much in the past 5 weeks though which is nice. I'm at about 17 pounds. But I really don't want to gain much more. Hopefully the doctor here will schedule the c-section by 39 weeks which would be less than 12 weeks from now so that's exciting! I just want to hold the little boy, and see what he looks like ;) I definitely don't love pregnancy like some women do. I'm trying hard to be normal and not let it affect me because I want us to enjoy this time, and we are a lot more than Julietta but it does affect me. Randy was joking the other night and said it's like living with a handicap person. I went ahead and bought the bedding for the crib. I doubt we'll have a shower so I'm trying to get stuff here and there so it's not so much in the end. I looked up activities for Julietta in the area and I want to put her in ballerina lessons or gymnastics because she would love it so much, but it's so dag on expensive. We might do it later but we just can't afford another bill right now. However, come September there are several church's that offer AWANA and so I think we'll put her in that. She will love it! She does really good in sunday school now. She just walks right in and says hi to the other kids and has fun. This morning she asked if she could go to church. So I know I need to get her involved in some things. I've also thought about doing a MOPS here too.
We have made some dear friends here. The wife is a "friend" from high school. I say friend like that because we never really hung out or did anything, but we knew eachother. They have two little girls with Julietta right in the middle and she is pregnant ready to pop with a boy! But it has been an answer to prayer to have them here!
There is a zoo and an aquirium all within an hour from here. They offer year passes for the family that would pay itself off within 2 visit. I'm excited to do that, because it will be a great thing to do with the kids on the weekends, and even weekdays if I'm going crazy! Okay lots of babbeling, but here's the pictures :
This is the bedding:
Here's the belly shot at 27 weeks!