19, 20, 21, & 22 Week Bumpdate

Yeah, my blogging game is really, really weak... sorry, S.B.B. (who we are now referring to as "Little Brother.") Last week, we put in our first offer on a new home and had it ACCEPTED, resulting in us having to put the home we are in now on the market that same day... between back-to-back showings, being essentially homeless, and then the Father's Day fall (more on that in a sec), things have been pretty chaotic. The good news is that we had ELEVEN offers on our home and were under contract within 3 days, but now the stress that comes with packing begins.

Anyway, back to the fall. Two weekends ago, my sweet great aunt let us crash in her guest room since our house was being shown all weekend. That Sunday morning (Father's Day) I was woke up at 7:20 from a phone call from Brandon -- who had just left for work -- saying that as soon as he opened the door, my aunt's dog ran out. Still being half asleep, I grabbed my phone and shoes and darted outside and for the first time in my LIFE, wasn't looking down as I walked. Long story short, I slipped on some cotton from a nearby cottonwood tree, fell really hard on my knees, completely shattered my iPhone screen, AND landed on my stomach. I wasn't exactly sure what to do at this point (since the dog was still missing), so I turned around to head back into the house... luckily, my mom was in the bathroom when I walked in, so I told her the dog ran away and that I'd fallen, so she went out trying to find him. Around this time is when it finally occurred to me that I had landed HARD on my stomach, so I began feeling around and lightly pushing in hopes of feeling a kick or a wiggle. Nothing.

About one minute later, both Brandon and my mom walked into the house (with the dog, thank goodness) and I broke down because I couldn't feel the baby. Brandon and I then went into the bathroom, where he tried calling my OB, but since it was a Sunday, the office was closed. That's when we made the decision to just get up and go to the ER down the street. Fortunately, Jackson was still asleep during all of this, so my awesome parents stayed back at the house to watch him for us.

We were the only people at the ER that morning, so as soon as we walked in (all while I'm choking back tears), we had our own room and were seen by a doctor. It took awhile for them to find Little Brother's heartbeat (scariest. thing. ever -- and even when they did find it, they didn't bother telling us! They kept saying it was mine we were hearing), but once I found out they had it, I broke down in relief. Since they have an on-call ultrasound technician, we had to stay in the room and wait awhile, but were fortunately kept busy by both HGTV and by looking at new phones for me.

Once the ultrasound tech arrived, things got better and better -- Little Brother looked PERFECT, I was showing no signs of early labor, and I was assured that everything looked great. Earlier, the doctor had recommended we go into my regular hospital for a 4-hour monitoring, but after being reassured by the ultrasound tech that everything looked great (and that they were just going to do the same thing at the hospital), Brandon and I talked about forgoing in order to get home to Jax. When the doctor came back to the room, I asked her if she thought it was really necessary, to which she seemed offended and answered yes.

At this point, L.B. was kicking like mad and I wanted nothing more than to get back to Jax, so I walked out into the main area to nicely tell the doctor that we just wanted to get home to our son and that everything felt great. I know this will sound like an exaggeration, but I swear it isn't: the bully, shattered-ego doctor gave me the nastiest look I have ever seen and told me "Fine. But if you go into an early labor or miscarry, that is on you, not me," and continued to rudely tell me that I had to sign release papers refusing her professional opinion. I was shocked. I wasn't exactly sure what to say at this point, so I just told her "Way to make me feel like a terrible mother," and walked away. The nurse (who was sitting next to the doctor during all of this) ran after me and actually apologized for how rude the doctor was and I told her it was fine and that I just wanted to go.

After returning to my aunt's house, seeing Jax and getting him ready for church with my parents, changing out of my pajamas, and brushing my teeth, we decided to head over to my regular hospital (since they were expecting us anyway). I was hooked up to the monitors for about 30 minutes before the doctor came in and told me it wasn't necessary for me to be there in the first place (since I already had the ultrasound at the ER, everything looked great, and the simple fact that they don't recommend the monitoring until after 24 weeks), which resulted in me being even more annoyed with the ER doctor.

(You can bet that later that day I sent an email to the administration and filled out their survey -- you don't tell a pregnant woman who is already shaken up that she's a bad mother!)

And that, my friends, was one Father's Day that we will never forget! If you are still reading, thanks! If not, I understand... but here's my regular bumpdate anyway:

Total Weight Gain/Loss: I haven't been to the doctor in a few weeks now, but I'm guessing about 15 lbs. 

Maternity clothes: No, but I really, really need to! One of my good friends (who is also pregnant) recommended checking Zulilly for their flowy and forgiving tops, so I plan to do that this afternoon. 

Stretch marks: I thought I saw a few the other night, but it was just indentations from my shorts. 

Sleep: Not too bad! I still wake a few times to use the restroom, but can usually get back to sleep right away *knock on wood.*

Best moment last week: Best moment in the last four weeks? Probably all the family time we've been getting with my parents (and great aunt, who is still here!) and my mom's and my Vegas trip. 

Movement: All. the. time. I can especially feel him whenever Jax and I read or when Jax starts jabbering non-stop :)

Food cravings/aversions: None of the above... I just like to eat! 

Gender: Little Brother! 

Labor signs: Nope! 

Belly button - in or out? In, but the other day it looked like it may pop.  

What I miss: Fitting into my regular clothes and not being exhausted by the end of each day. 

What I am looking forward to: Brandon leaves for a Vegas trip with a few of his buddies next week, so Jax and I are taking our own little trip to my parents! 

Carol & Annie Do Vegas (Again)!

A few months ago, I was laying around dreaming of future vacations and remembered how much fun my mom and I had when we went to Vegas in 2013 when I was pregnant with Jackson... after shooting her a quick text, we had a weekend decided and booked our plane tickets the next week. Once again we had the BEST time in Vegas and had a blast eating our hearts out, seeing shows, and shopping until we dropped. Here is a quick picture recap of our "Annie's pregnant again so let's go to Vegas to eat a bunch of food and see some shows" trip:

Since the buffet at Paris is our favorite place to eat, we decided to go ahead and give them and their rooms a try -- absolutely GORGEOUS and the beds were super comfortable! (Since our flight arrived at 7 am, we shopped a bit, grabbed breakfast, checked in at 10 am, and basically spent the rest of the morning and afternoon sleeping and relaxing in our lovely room.)

I think I've explained it before, but ever since visiting in 2011, we have always taken a picture with this statue at Harrah's for my Aunt Judy -- since there were no nice looking employees around to take our picture, this awkward selfie (of me -- mom looks cute!) had to suffice.

First night = Menopause the Musical! 

The most important part of the trip: the food. 

We spent practically all of Day 2 shopping, so I didn't feel so bad eating my weight in rich foods.

Second Night = Paul Zerdin (the ventriloquist who won last season's America's Got Talent.)

Before retiring to our room, sharing a sandwich, watching Dateline, and doing foot rubs, we did a little more shopping and chocolate tasting at the divine Hexx. 

Since Brandon has Thursdays, Fridays, and Saturdays off, we took advantage and flew out early Thursday morning and came back Saturday afternoon. The trip was way too short (as vacations tend to be) but we had such a fun and memorable time that I will treasure forever! 

Can't wait to do it again when we're expecting Baby #3 ;)

That Kid! (Volume 5)

As I stated in yesterday's bumpdate, time just hasn't been on my side when it comes to blogging! We have been so very busy visiting family, playing, reading Curious George (over and over and over), and getting the house ready to sell that I have had no time to even sit down and write Jackson's 2 year 5 month update. Anyway, Jax is napping (and I'm miraculously not) so I figured now is the time to gush about this past month with our little cutie!

We had a few rainy days so I broke out the Play-Doh... and he's refused to put it away!

~Jackson had his third ever dentist visit this month and did so well! (If you need a recommendation for an excellent pediatric dentist in north Denver, shoot me a message.) She said all of his teeth looked great but noticed that his top jaw may be a little wider than the bottom, which could be the cause to his nighttime mouth breathing. Anyway, she said to bring it up at his next well-check (and have them check his tonsils since he's prone to having larger ones) but said everything checked out otherwise! Since he didn't have any cavities, he even got to add his name to the special tree :) The sad news from the visit? He has four remaining molars that are starting to come in at once...

~I swear that I'm going to write a full post on our Bismarck trip, but will just write this little tease in the meantime. We had SO much fun visiting Brandon's grandparents, aunts, uncles, and cousins in Bismarck last month. Between playing at Great Grandpa's house, on the Welch farm, and eating his little heart out, he had the best time! One of many heart melt moments was the way he acted around his little cousin, Emilia (pictured) -- he's never been too close to a baby before and loved waving at her and standing over her smiling.

~Jax has become a book FIEND and I love it! However, I wish he would part with the original Curious George book... he makes insists we read it at least once before nap and then again before bedtime. If anyone is interested in having me recite it to them, let me know. (This is a picture of him sleeping on the plane -- it has nothing to do with reading but is still cute!)

 

 

~One of the many perks of being from a small town is the fact that the everyone knows one another... case in point: my dad was asked by our hometown Boy Scout leader if he would enter his old "I Love Lucy" pinewood derby car into their upcoming race (he's an engineer and designed it for me to race back when my brother was a Boy Scout). Anyway, my dad let me know the race was coming up and asked if we'd like to come which was a BIG yes since Jackson love cars. Brandon ended up designing a car for Jax to paint/race last minute and he had the best time -- he even got a trophy that he wouldn't let go of for days (pictured)!