Happy Mother's Day!♥

I love my mom.

I consider myself so lucky to have her in my life! She has taught me so much and I know will continue to teach me. I have always felt love from her. Even if I was in trouble, she would always go about things in such a loving way. She has a way about making me feel so important, and in fact, I know motherhood was one of the most important things to her. She showed that to me every day growing up, though I didn't realize it then, I now realize it more than ever!

I think being a mother is one of the greatest gifts we are given in life. I am so excited that I have been given this gift to cherish. I can't wait to meet my daughter and to experience every moment of her life! I already love her more than words can describe and she isn't even born yet. I just hope that I can be half the mom that my mom is! She is an amazing woman!

I LOVE YOU MOM!!♥

10 to go!

BLAH!

So, turns out when you go in for the 3 hour glucose test they don't give you the same orange drink. They give you a different one. This one is really, really nasty. It is really thick like syrup. The gal told me it has 2x the amount of sugar. The only thing it had going for it was it sorta tasted like Sprite...but, 1000 times sweeter. Talk about sugar overload. Not to mention they had me fast before I went in there so I drank the whole thing (I think about 12oz) as fast as I could on an empty stomach. That first hour was torture...I felt so sick to my stomach from all the sugar trying to settle. Hopefully I will never ever have to do that again!!

They said they will call me if my test comes back positive that I have gestational diabetes. I will keep you all posted.

♥

glucose test take 2

the results to my glucose test came back yesterday and they were a tiny bit high. the normal range is between 75 and 175. my number was 176. go figure! so, they want me to come in for their 3 hour test. i was a little alarmed at first because i thought i would ace the 1st test and that i didn't have anything to worry about. but, i am still not to worried..i feel great and i am generally pretty healthy. but, we will see after this test if i have gestational diabetes.

for the test i took last friday i had to drink the orange drink and get my blood drawn a hour later. this time i have to eat a high carb diet for the next 3 days and then fast after midnight on the third day. i then have to go in on friday (5/8) and drink the orange drink again. but, this time i will drink the orange drink and a hour later get my blood drawn... only to wait another hour to get more blood drawn and then 1 more hour after that to get my blood drawn a 3rd time. sounds like fun huh?! :) not really but, i guess that is just how it goes.

if 2 out of the 3 tests still come back high then i am diagnosed with gestational diabetes. they said it is easily controlled though with diet and that it will go away after ellee is born. so that is nice to know. i'm trying not to think about it because i am sure i am just fine. i will let you all know what the results are.

♥love yas!!!

glucose test

yesterday we had another appointment with our midwife. before the appointment i had to go in and drink that orange glucose drink to determine whether i have gestational diabetes. it isn't something they were worried about but, just a normal test they do just to be on the safe side. everyone kept telling me that the drink was really gross. but, it actually wasn't that bad! it tasted like orange soda with out the carbonation. i'm not a huge fan of orange soda but, at least it wasn't something worse! the only hard part was trying to down it as fast as i could because i was running late for my actual appointment. i should get the results in a few days. i'm not worried though because i feel great!
at my appointment with the midwife she said that everything looks really good. when she measured my stomach she said that ellee had grown a lot since our last appointment four weeks ago. when she listened for her heartbeat it was stronger on the left side. the midwife had a hard time counting her beats per minute because ellee kept moving around. :) she definitely moves a lot! the midwife said we are right where we need to be. that was really good to hear. all in all it was a really good appointment.

28 weeks!

This is me at 28 weeks and Zen...he is a 250 pound Mastiff that my friend Julie is dog sitting. I have never in my life seen a dog this big!! He is the size of a small pony. We though Charlie was big!! Good thing Zen is a friendly dog..or we could have been in big trouble! :)

Lucy Goosey you stressed me out!!

Yesterday, our new puppy Lucy decided to eat something that just didn't agree with her.....

All of a sudden I noticed her falling over randomly. And when she tried to lay down she would twitch. She started getting worse so, I called the vet and they said to bring her in right away. By the time I got her to the vet she was starting to have seizures and her kidneys were starting to fail.They got IV fluids in her right away and started pumping her with medicine. Of course, me and my pregnant self starts getting emotional as they are explaining what is happening and what they need to do. I even had the Vet Tech tearing up!

At around 5 when our vets office closes they said she was nowhere near ready to go home so we had to take her into the emergency vet clinic in Tacoma to be be monitored there - not good on the pocket book, although it could have been worse! They pumped her with more fluids & medicine. And by this morning we were able to go pick her up. When I got there it was such a relief to see her back to her normal loving, bouncy self!

They said that she most likely ingested some sort of slug bait or mulch grass clippings. That crazy, curious puppy!!!
We have only had her for a few months but, she is already apart of our family and I know Ellee will love growing up with her! I would have been heartbroken if we had lost her! I'm just glad that she is okay!

♥

Ellee's nursery

So, I have been looking around a lot at nursery theme ideas...I have registered for one at Babies R Us..but, then I have found another one that I thought was really cute..similar but, different...

I'm going to add a new "POLL" - please vote on which you like better! :)

CoCalo - A La Mode:

Possible Wall Colors:

"Rosy Pink"

"Privacy Pink"

"Light Lichen"

BeanSprout - Mod Daisy:

Possible Wall Colors:

"Shaded Porch"

"Pink Memories"

I'm leaning more towards the CoCalo collection, which is the one I am registered for but, I am totally undecided! I still have time! :) I think if you click on each picture it will blow it up so you can see better.

Let me know what you all think!!

♥

totally uncomfortable!

So all day has been torture!! I hope it is better tomorrow! I have just been very uncomfortable. Not only that every time I try to bend over or sit down it is just painful. It is like I've done 500 sit ups or something.

On the bright side...Ellee is a mover! She is constantly doing flips in my stomach. It is so cool to see and feel her moving around. I want to try and post a video but, it is hard to catch her doing it when I have my camera near by. It is the most amazing thing ever...and I never imagined it to be so awesome!

26 weeks down.....14 to go!!

we've pledged..have you?!

I know this posting is not exactly about baby Ellee but, in way it is...The "r" word has always been a sensitive word in our family! We want Ellee to be aware from the very beginning that just because her Auntie Sarah has a developmental disability doesn't mean that she should be treated any different. So, we have pledged...to spread the word - to end the word!

"I pledge and support the elimination of the derogatory use of the r-word from everyday speech and promote the acceptance and inclusion of people with intellectual disabilities.

Today, End the Word - Thousands of people across the United States and around the world kicked off a campaign dedicated to making people think about their casual use of the word "retard."

Please visit the Special Olympics website and make your pledge to end the r-word!!

braxton hicks

Can I just say that braxton hicks are really annoying!

Yesterday, I started having them at about noon and they didn't go away completely until about 10pm last night. At first I figured they were just braxton hicks but, when they lasted for so long I kinda got a little nervous. They were mostly in my lower back, and from what I have read and have been told braxton hicks are usually in your lower abdomen not in your back. I had no idea what braxton hicks were supposed to feel like or even what labor is supposed to feel like...this is a whole new experience for me! I thought maybe I was going into early labor..which made me just a tad bit more nervous because I am only 24 weeks!!

Thank goodness for the Group Health Nurse line you can call. I called them and the RN asked me a bunch of questions. I thought she would just give me an answer on what I should do but, she said she had to call the midwifes and then call me back. That made me even more nervous! When she finally called me back (It seemed like forever but, really probably only about 10 minutes.) She said that the midwifes doubted it was actual labor. They told me to just take it easy and get lots of rest, drink lots of fluids, take some tylenol and put a heating pad on my lower back. And if it did continue then to call back.

They finally went away at about 10 last night. They got a whole lot better after I had taken the tylenol. And I feel completely fine this morning. I'm hoping that I don't continue to get them that bad through out the rest of my pregnancy but, I guess we will see. But, in the end it will be worth it when we finally get to hold little miss Ellee in our arms!! :)

♥

24 weeks & counting!

baby ellee bump!

20 week pic

She is growing fast!!!

I can't believe in 20 short weeks she will be here!!

And...It's a GIRL!

ELLEE ELIZABETH GRAY!

We are so excited! It feels more real now that we know we are having a baby girl. Now we can start planning and picking stuff out! They said at my appt. that she is a very healthy baby and she is right on schedule! They also said that it is very rare to see the ultrasound show that the due date is pretty right on target.

I know the picture isn't the greatest but, you can see her head and her spine. :)

♥ Leanna

Meet Lucy / 17 weeks preggo!

Call us crazy! We got a puppy!! She is 12 weeks old and we think she is pretty darn cute! She fits into our family perfectly! We now have Charlie Brown & Lucy!

I'm 17 weeks tomorrow! I can't believe that it has gone by this fast! I guess the next 23 weeks to come will fly by too. We can't wait to find out if we are having a boy or girl!

heartbeat!

Life is so amazing...thought I would share our baby's heartbeat!!

The scratching noise you hear every so often is the baby moving around!

We get to find out if we are having a boy or girl on February 20th! We are so excited!!
Make sure you vote on whether you think we are having a boy or girl!!

1st trimester

Today I am officially out of my first trimester!! I feel so relieved. 1 down and 2 to go. : ) I feel very blessed because my first trimester wasn't as bad as it could have been.
My jeans are now too uncomfortable to wear. I had to break out the "maternity" jeans. They are definitely a little big still though. But, much more comfortable!!

♥

12 week pic.

There is a little bit of a difference between 10 weeks and 12. I only have about 2 pairs of pants that fit me. I guess I will have to go shopping soon. : )

Don't forget to vote on whether you think Baby Gray will be a boy or girl!!