Feeling good!

Today, that is!
After a very long, eventful weekend, which by the way included the MOST romantic proposal by my amazing FIANCE (I just love rolling that off my tongue!), I woke up with an excruciating headache Monday that had turned to a migraine by Monday afternoon. After work, I was in bed by 5pm and asleep for a very short time by 6. I say short time because not 3 hours later I woke up with the worst pain in my head that I have had in a very long time. I had been taking extra strength tylenol, but that clearly wasn't working. We tried a cold compress; a warm compress; a warm bath; massage oil to my temples; everything. Finally I fell asleep, this time until about 3am. When I woke up this time in as much pain as I was in, I just knew I was doomed. I took another tylenol and prayed for the best. Not a chance. I never did go back to sleep and I had a miserable morning at work. By noon my headache had improved some but still lingered, even after another dose of tylenol. Matt called our OBGYN who indicated that he would be calling in VICODIN (yeah, that's what I thought, too!) to the pharmacy and suggested that we go to the ER if the headache persisted. Let me just say that I did not pick up that perscription, nor do I plan to, unless I am absolutely desperate next time! Dr. did say though that it was the safest thing for me (and baby) to take, next to the tylenol, surprisingly enough. As you can see, it's approaching 10pm and I am wide awake! Quite the opposite of my schedule for the last 12 weeks! My headache is gone, too, and I am one happy camper about that!

Back pain has not improved at all. It's been awful trying to sleep; any time I move I get the most intense pain in my lower back (right side) and butt that puts me in a locked position, almost as though something is saying "Oh no you don't lady, you're not moving!" And, literally, I can't!

I guesss we better go. It's getting late to take a bath, which has been one of the only things that helps me relax for bed at the end of the day. Such a relief on my back! Daddy is about to come home, too, from the first (of, I am sure, many) 7-11 run.....I am off (at least for this moment!) the pickle juice kick and I am on an extreme sour candy kick! Mmmmm....those sour watermelons by the sour patch kids company! I crave sour candy allll day long! I will have to stop at Target tomorrow to see if they have sugar free sour candies. If so, look out folks!!

G'nite....

Love,
Mommy (and baby!)

From the BIG sister!!

I am so excited to be a big sister! I am so  desprit to find out what it is. I feel bad for Erin because she's sick sometimes and her back hurts her so much. I hope we don't have to go to school on the due date because the due date is on a Wednesday. I hope it waits until Friday to come so we can see it a lot on the weekend.  It is going to be so fun with a baby around! A mini Matt or Erin! If it is a girl it coould have a sleepover with me in my room when it sleeps through the night! Sometimes Erin and I read stories to the baby at night before I go to bed. We have been buying books for the baby from Babys R us. My favorite book to read to the baby is Guess How Much I Love You. It is bedtime story about a mommy and baby nutbrown hare who keep arguing over which one loves the other the most.

I am really excited to be a big sister. I can't wait to see if it is a boy or girl. I have to go now because my bedtime is in ten minutes!

Goodnight baby! Sissy loves you to the moon andback.

Love,
Jessica R.

So exhausted!

So, since the fabulous news has been broken to everyone, I have been absolutely inundated with sweet congratulatory notes from everyone. Problem is, I simply don't have time to write every person back. I am terribly sorry for that. I have been on email since I got home from work at 4:30; it's already nearly 7! My family is calling me for dinner and my bed looks very inviting! I do appreciate everyone's kind words and unconditional love and support.

Wanted to just quickly touch base with everyone. Baby is putting Mommy in tremendous back pain the last several weeks. I did talk to the doctor about it and she indicated that it was sciatica and that I could expect it to go away in the next few weeks (only to return in the 7th-8th month). Until then, I suppose I will have to cope with the sleepless nights and therefore the long, exhausting days. Tylenol helps only seldomly. I have actually found that a warm bath helps at night which is nice because at least that way I can fall asleep.

I have also found that "morning sickness" is a lie. Doctors should rename this awful "thing" 'all day-24/7-i'm-going-to-die-if-I-eat' sickness! Although, some days are much, much better than others. We have found that if I get plenty of rest at night, I have plenty of energy to get me through the day (and then some), plus I don't have that awful sickness. "Plenty" of rest is usually 9-10 hours of sleep. Since I have to be at work at 7, that means I am in bed, lights out, by 8! People laugh at me, but you know, I will do what I have to!

At this point, I have lost interest in almost all food (except Rocky Road ice cream, of course!) and the smell of most food leaves me jetting, literally, for the bathroom! Matt took me on a date last week and we were on our way to a lovely dinner....I couldn't wait to order everything I had been craving. Ugh! About as quickly as I ordered (a little of everything, mind you!), we had to take it all to go and get outta there QUICK!

I will say, too, that I have had some pretty far out cravings in the last 2.5 weeks. I recently polished off a jar of pickle juice, leaving all but one of the pickles left in the jar! Jacob says I'm disgusting; my favorite girl, Jess, on the other hand usually shares a very small glass with me! Mmmmm...sounds sooo delish as we speak!

I think that's all for now! It's cold and rainy and baby and I just wanna cuddle up and go to bed! Sis (Jessica) asked me if she can write her own note to the baby and or the family tonight, in baby's blog. So sweet of her! I told her I'd let her get on here a little before bed, so standby for that note shortly!

G'nite! We will talk to you soon!

Love,
Mommy and Baby

Baby on Board!

Goodmorning!

So I'd thought it would be fun for you (and us!) if I created, and frequently update, a blog so you can all see the exciting happenings that are occurring almost daily in our family!

For starters, I will say that this new journey began for all of us on March 6, 2010. Although, I think it began for me about a week and a half before that. Without any pregnancy symptoms, my own intuition told me that there was a little tiny pea in the pod! After nearly a week having passed since missing my VERY regular menstrual cycle, we decided to finally take a home pregnancy test. NOTE TO SELF: never use First Response! The test directions indicated that a positive result would reflect two solid, dark, pink lines; a negative result would reflect one solid, dark, pink line. 5 minutes after I took the test, however, we had one dark pink line and one very faint (almost clearish-grey), nearly colorless line. Talk about disappointment, not to mention total confusion!

We decided we would buy and take another home test, but give it 24 hours since my HCG levels may be too low to detect pregnancy (even though my period was already 5 days late!). Off to Target we went. This time I purchased the most expensive, digital, home pregnancy test that I could find in that feminine care and family planning aisle! The Clear Blue test results seemed far more simple: "Pregnant" or "Not Pregnant."

Matt and I agreeed that we would take the test again the following morning. Now, I am THE MOST impatient person you will ever know, and I didn't think that was so bad. But! Then I went to bed, waking up nearly 10 times between 9pm and 12am! I couldn't stand the anticipation every single time I woke up. So, I finally quietly tip-toed to the bathroom, not so quietly unrapped the cellophane wrap from the Clear Blue box, and not so quietly ripped open the purple wrapper that held the digital test. I have never been so excited to "pee on a stick" before! Even though it instructed me to "cap the test and lay it face down for 2 minutes", I waited 3 extra minutes in hopes that it would surely detect accurate levels of HCG in that extra dose of time! 

There was no mistaking this bad boy: PREGNANT! I was suddenly having a party all by myself (well, and with baby of course, too!) in the bathroom. The solo party didn't last long though.....As I ran (literally) out of the bathroom, I was grinning from ear to ear. At that moment, Daddy knew exactly what Miss Impatient had been up to. He, too, went into the bathroom, where I had left the test on the counter, and he, too, came out grinning from ear to ear. 

March 6th was truly one of the greatest days of my life and since that day, each day has only been better.....

After many, many weeks of seeking and researching OBGYNs, we finally decided on Dr. Christopher Lafferty of SHARP. It was critical to me that whomever we chose had been in the practice for many years, he/she had an office close to our home/work for routine visits, and he/she would be available to deliver baby at SHARP Mary Birch when the time comes. Check. Check. And check!

So, yesterday was our first OB appointment at SHARP Grossmont. We learned that we will only see Dr. Lafferty every other visit and a nurse practitioner for all visits in between. Since Dr. Lafferty was on-call, we saw our nurse practitioner yesterday (who I absolutely adore!). After the routine physical exam, etc., we FINALLY got to see our tiny baby...a very much anxiously anticipated moment! It all still seemed to surreal to me, until she turned the heart monitor on. Baby's heartbeat was the most precious sound to my ears and had the most calming effect over my entire body. That's our baby! Our baby!

As we watched our baby on the monitor, it was clear that he/she was sleeping soundly and likley did not want mommy, daddy, and Janet to "mess" with him/her anymore. But we tried a couple more times. The last sonogram picture depicts baby had finally placed his/her tiny arms up over the face, as though to say "I am a sleepy bear, please go away for now!" and scruntched up his/her tiny legs. That's our baby!

Our next appointment is May 21st. I will be blogging many times before then and I will get sonogram pictures posted as quickly as possible.

Cheers to baby boy or baby girl Robertson, who is due to arrive into this beautiful family on November 3, 2010!!!