tummy time!

We tried some tummy time and Miya was cracking me up. She liked it at first but soon got tired of it...literally and fell asleep :) It was cute because at first she was even pumping her little legs to get over the pillow I had under her chest. She doesn't seem to love being on her stomach, she prefers her side, her left side, just like her mommy.

I love that her llittle fat cheeks squish her one eye shut :)

sleepy girl after her tummy time nap

she loves daddy

just because I love her toes...

2 weeks...and Happy Easter!

I can't believe another week has gone by. It's amazing how much babies change from day to day. I think about this Sunday compared to last Sunday and I feel like we are finally starting to get the hang of things. Miya is doing great with feeding now (praise the Lord!) I have been letting her set her feeding schedule and she has done very well with that. She eats about every 2-3 hours during the day and she goes at least one 4 hour stretch at night. Which is such a blessing. She also has started to have some awake periods during the day which has been oh so fun. I love seeing her eyes open as she looks around in wonder trying to figure out this world she is in. She follows people with her eyes and loves to stare at certain things in the room. It's the sweetest thing to watch because she is perfectly content when she is awake, so we can sit and talk to her or we can lay her under her little play gym and let her play and listen to the music. She also happens to be bit of a night owl and likes to be awake until 1030 or 11. Which is ok with Mommy who happens to be nightowl as well :)
Here are some pictures from this past week...

playing...

she was pretty mesmorized by the colors...

reading spurgeon with Daddy

Her first Easter! We dressed her up in one of her sweet dresses, but ended up not going to church. It's still a little too soon and her schedule is still very unpredictable. Plus I would feel more comfortable giving her one more week since her immune system is immature. But we watched a live Easter service online for Mars Hill Church in Seattle :)

I think she likes being dressed up :)

snuggled in Mommy's robe.

snoozing with daddy

little mohawk

Comfy...even though she looks like she is lying upside down!

talking to daddy.

where did my clothes go?

Daddy's little princess she is indeed :)

first nap in her crib.

She LOVES her lamby!

she looks like an angel when she sleeps.

This video is probably just for the grandparents, everyone else might find it boring ;) but she is so wide awake here and it's very sweet, this was actually the most awake I had seen her. She is just looking all around. She also was kicking the rattles over and over again, I think she liked the noise. She played happily here for a good 20 or so minutes.




She also lost her cord today so we were able to give her a real bath! She loved it, and loved the little bath seat Grandma and Grandad Lewis gave her!

rubba-dubba

Her eyes would get pretty big when we would splash her with the water

drying off...

starting to get sleepy...

So that's the recap for week 2. Tomorrow we have another appointment with the pediatrician. She has to get her 2nd PKU which means getting a heel stick...which breaks Mama's heart. Last Thursday she gained 9 oz in 5 days, and I am wondering how much she will weigh tomorrow. She is surpassing everyones expectations for her wt. gain since she was so tiny at birth. She eats like a champ and my guess is she will be over 7lbs tomorrow. She will be a little chunker in no time :)

People have asked....

...how to pronounce our girlies name "Miya". Don't worry if you have pronounced it wrong :) It really doesn't bother me. Because we chose to spell her name with a "y" in it many people pronounce it as "mya" but it is actually pronounced "mee-ya" as you would pronounce "mia". It means temple of peace...which so far is very true of our girl! Just wanted to clarify.

Meeting Grandma and Granddad

This week we got to have Grandma and Granddad Lewis here from Indiana to meet Miya! It was such a joy to see how much they love our little girlie. She was quite smitten with them too :)

Grandma and Granddad Lewis thanks for coming! We know our girl is so blessed to have a Grandma and Grandpop like you two. I'm glad she finally opened her eyes for you too! She has been doing a whole lot more of that lately.


Here are some pictures from their stay:

Miya loves her granddaddy

And Grandma has won Miya's heart as well :)

*more strength*

This morning during Miya's 3:30 am feeding I was very aware of weariness. We both had upset stomachs last night which means we both didn't sleep very well and Miya also is having a little growth spurt which means she is waking up more often to eat as well. As I was sitting feeding her I kept thinking "How am I going to make it tomorrow, I haven't gotten enough sleep and we have a busy day tomorrow!" I also tend to think about all the stuff I want to get done the next day and I can be weary thinking I won't have enough energy. Even though I love feeding my girl, and it's such a joy to know she is growing and that is why she is needing eat more often, I can easily fall into weariness when it comes to the middle of the night feedings. Especially when I have gotten used to her sleeping at least 3 hours at a time at night. But as I was feeding her I read this devotional from "Joy & Strength" that I get in my email each day:

All At Once

When my spirit was overwhelmed within me, then Thou knewest my path.

PSALMS 142:3

THE work which we count so hard to do,
He makes it easy, for He works too;
The days that are long to live are His,--
A bit of His bright eternities;
And close to our need His helping is.

SUSAN COOLIDGE

DO not yield to the temptation of looking at everything at once, as if everything would happen at once, and all the events of the day be crowded into an hour. Do not thus forecast, but take each thing as it comes to you, and look upon it as the present expression of the will of God concerning you; then regard the next in the same way, and thus receive your day piece by piece from Him who will remember always when He gives you work to do, that you need strength to do it.

Often, when you have almost fainted in spirit, the thought comes, "If thou hast run with the footmen, and they have wearied thee, what shalt thou do with the horsemen?" Put it from you, it is a faithless thought; if you need more strength, you will have it, be sure of that; or the call to greater exertion may never come to you. Your business is with the present; leave the future in His hands who will be sure to do the best, the very best for you.
PRISCILLA MAURICE

How sweet and comforting to know that I am guarenteed the strength for the next thing! I don't even need to give it a second thought, it's a promise. I just need to rest in that promise, and I am so thankful. I have to remind myself...one moment at a time.

sneak peak...

My friend Megan kindly did some newborn pictures of our sweet girl. You can check them out on her BLOG.

Thank you so much Megan! We love them :)

1 week

I can't believe it's been a week. I don't even know how to sum up this past week. It has been so full and there have been so many new experiences I just can't believe how much has changed in such a short period of time! We brought Miya home on Wednesday and it has definitely been an adventure. I feel like there is something new everyday and it definitely keeps me on my toes! Learning to feed her and care for all of her most basic needs is very humbling and at times can feel so overwhelming! But it is a joy, I keep telling Lew "Can you believe we have a child, and she is totally dependent on us!?"

So what has this week looked like with our Miya Noelle?

-She is such a calm baby. I can't believe it. I thought all newborns were like this, but my pediatrician assured me that this is not so. It doesn't take much for her to be happy, just a full belly, snuggles, and warmth. And really pretty much if she's fed she's happy!

-She is still trying to get the hang of feeding. Or should I say we are trying to get the hang of it. It's definitely a team effort. There have moments where I thought "I don't know if I can do this." We have also had many crying sessions where we both are in tears...But there has been so much grace to persevere through the learning process and stick with it. It is definitely one of those things that for being so "natural" it definitely doesn't come naturally!

-She doesn't like to be swaddled too much, I mean she doesn't mind it, but she prefers to have her hands free so she can keep them close to her face and mouth.

-She had her first bath at home and lets just say....she pretty much hated it! It was so funny my Mom, Dad, Lew, and I were all crammed into the bathroom giving her a bath...she was just not thrilled about the whole thing. Lew even videotaped parts of it, but there is lots of crying in this video so it's not for the faint of heart (I'm speaking to myself really, I can't stand to see her cry!) It's cute because at one point she looked like she was enjoying me washing her hair....until I had to rinse it...then it was back to tears!

happy and awake after her bath

Thank for the help meema and pop pop!

And she's out :) I think we wore her out

-She got to meet her great grandma Kouneski for the first time!

-Miya had her first doctors appointment and we were so happy to hear she had gained 5 ounces in just 2 days! She is only 3 away from her birthweight which is good news. We just have to keep getting her to eat and eat since she is so tiny.

-She had her first photoshoot with my friend Megan! We will post those once we have them

-She has really enjoyed sleep... lots and lots of sleep. I can't believe how much she loves it. She has been sleeping on my chest for the past 2 hours while I write these lengthy posts and I know that in about 5 minutes I will have to wake her and get her to eat! Which is not easy...she would prefer sleep over food sometimes! She is sleeping about 3 hours at a time at night and sometimes she will wake herself up to eat, but usually I end up having to wake her up and get her completely undressed in order to get her to eat. But thankfully I have been getting about 5-7 hours of sleep at night in about 2-3 hour increments, which hasn't been too bad. And feeding has only taken about 30-40 minutes at night on average which I am thankful for.

There is so much more but one thing that has really been eye opening this week has been how much I need God's help right now. Being a Mom is wonderful and truly the most beautiful thing I have ever experienced....but it's also hard at times, and requires complete sacrifice. Now let me just say I have never enjoyed sacrificing for another person more than I do for Miya...but still this life that I have now looks very very different from the one before. At times nothing looks familiar and that can seem so scary. My body is weak and recovering while I try to tend to this little baby, my mind sometimes races at all that I think I "need" to get done, and sometimes I feel lost in this new world wondering when things will look more like the old life. But I have been more thankful for grace then ever before. I know I need help and probably have never prayed more than I have this past week. What grace that God would use this to draw me nearer to him. I have never felt so humbled as I do as a new Mom. I was reading a friends blog from when she was a new Mom and she posted an article called "40 days with Natalie" that spoke to my heart so much! The article talks about how things will not look as they once did...this is a "new normal". I need to embrace this new normal and not try to fight to fit Miya into what once was normal in our life. The article can be found here. I would recommend it for any Mom or soon to be Mom. It has been such a joy as I have sought to not look back at what the "old life" looked like, but rather to just take one day at a time, sometimes one moment at a time. Our lives have been changed forever in such a dramatic way. I want to enjoy every moment I have in this new season. I know she will grow up so fast and I don't want to live looking ahead to the next thing and missing out on where I am right now.

Happy 1 week Miya! We love you so so so so much. You bring your mommy and papa so much joy, and we can't thank God enough for you!

How do you start...

...a blog post to sum up the most life changing week of your life? That is what has been on my mind today as I thought "I should blog about this past week". Either way I can start by saying our little Miya Noelle made her debut Sunday March 29th at 833 am weighing 6lbs 8oz and 18 1/2 inches long.

No doubt this past week has provided many opportunities to trust in God, rejoice, and receive God's will as "good" even when it includes things not in my plan. I have probably learned more this week than I have in many many years. This will probably be a long post, but did you expect any different? :)

The Labor Story (for those who haven't heard it yet)
So it all started this past Friday morning. Lew and I had a very rough night Thursday night because I had been really sick with an upper respiratory infection that caused a lot of wheezing and difficulty breathing especially at night. In fact I was awake from 1-6 am simply because the wheezing and coughing had gotten so bad and my inhaler wasn't working. So, early Friday morning Lew decided he would work from home and we would call my doctor and find out what we should do about the infection. I had already been on antibiotics for a few days and they just didn't seem to be cutting it. I honestly thought we would end up at the hospital on Friday...little did I know that I was right, just not for the reason I originally thought. So, after finally getting a little more sleep I woke up to discover my water was leaking, it totally caught me off guard. I called my OB and he told me to come in immediately. When we got there they checked the baby and did an ultrasound confirming that I was losing fluid, but my levels still looked good so I didn't need to go to the hospital yet. I had started to have contractions so my doctor told me to go home and basically walk, walk, and walk to get things moving. We did just that, in fact I really think we walked more than 5 miles total just trying to get things started. By 5pm I talked to my OB and my contractions were getting closer, so he encouraged us to go the hospital by 9pm to be admitted. Unfortunately, my OB was going out of town so I wouldn't get to have him there, this was the first challenge for me. He has followed the whole pregnancy so it was hard to think about him not being there. But he assured me I would be in good hands with the doctor on call.

Last picture before we left for the hospital on Friday

Me looking really enthusiastic as we take one last picture in L&D

Off we go to Shady Grove at around 8 Friday night. Both incredibly giddy about the fact that we would most likely meet our baby in the next day (or so we thought!). We were admitted and put in a room and monitored. My first check I was very surprised to find out I hadn't made any progress. I was still 1-2 cm dilated and completely effaced, but no new progress. I couldn't have been more surprised. I was having contractions almost 2-3minutes apart and had been for hours, yet no change. So we walked, and walked, and walked. I can't tell you how many hours we spent wondering the short hallway in labor and delivery. My Mom met us there and I was so glad to have her there. Once we hit about 3 or 4 am we noticed something interesting, my contractions were really close together when I walked but as soon as we started to rest they would slow down if not stop. This went on for hours and we were getting so tired from walking I didn't know how I was going to be able to deliver Miya if we kept that up! So, by Saturday morning at 7 we talked to our doctor and decided to start pitocin by noon if things didn't pick up. Sure enough by noon things were going nowhere fast, so up went the pitocin. The contractions started to pick up as they upped the dose but we discovered another interesting trend. The contractions would pick up and start to come close together and stronger and then all the sudden they would space out again. It was almost like clockwork, and everyone was pretty much shocked. They just kept upping my dose over and over again and things would pick up and then totally space out and die down. We went on like this until about midnight when something concerning happened. My contractions started coming one right after the other with no breaks and Miya's heartrate started to drop. Each time the nurse would rush in turn me on my left side and put oxygen on me. I remember each time my heart would just sink, I was so worried about how all this was affecting miya. Thankfully after a break from the pitocin along with the other measures she would always recover and within an hour or so the pitocin would be back on. But this kept happening over and over again. Finally the doctor came in to check my progress at about 2 am and we were all totally floored to find out I had made absolutely no progress. It was shocking and discouraging. My Mom, Lew, and I were all going on pretty much no sleep and we all realized we were getting close to me having been in labor for 48 hours. I was terribly discouraged, but thankfully my Mom and Lew were able to encourage me and we just kept waiting and praying. Unfortunately about every hour we hit the same bump and miya was just not tolerating labor anymore. I started to panic at this point. I looked at my birth plan and cried. We had planned and prepared for this beautiful natural birth...and look what was happening. I couldn't imagine a c-section and though the word hadn't been mentioned yet, it was hanging over my head like a heavy heavy weight. I remember how much fear I started to feel at this moment, and then my Mom leaned over me and began to recite Psalm 121, I knew she was reading my thoughts, and knew the fear I was experiencing. Psalm 121 reads:

I lift up my eyes to the hills.
From where does my help come?
My help comes from the Lord,
who made heaven and earth.

He will not let your foot be moved;
he who keeps you will not slumber.
Behold, he who keeps Israel
will neither slumber nor sleep.

The Lord is your keeper;
the Lord is your shade on your right hand.
The sun shall not strike you by day,
nor the moon by night.

The Lord will keep you from all evil;
he will keep your life.
The Lord will keep
your going out and your coming in
from this time forth and forevermore.

This is a very special verse between my Mom and I. She recited it to me many a times when I was in the hospital and struggling with fear among other things. As soon as she started to recite it I just started to cry. It was such a sweet reminder that my help comes from the Lord. I knew I was in good hands. So by 7am my doctor came in to check me one more time, I could tell by the look on his face that we were going nowhere, and my heart was at peace. He encouraged me that we had been patient and literally tried everything we could to do this naturally, but at this point we needed to consider Miya's safety. So, we decided a c-section was the best option. Every moment after this seems so surreal. But I still had peace (praise the Lord). My doctor said alright lets get ready we're going to start in 3o minutes. I just couldn't believe it, this was it, we were gonna meet our little girl in the next hour! I just couldn't believe it. So I got prepped, got my spinal and there I was strapped down on a gurney being cut open while awake (ok I still can't get over how weird this was....seriously I can't even tell you!) and I was reminded of still how funny it was that none of our plans for the birth had been successful...but none of that mattered because we were going to meet our daughter any minute. And then we heard the most beautiful thing I have every heard in my life, her sweet cries. Lew just glanced over the divider and then looked at me and said "Oh my goodness, she is precious" And I my heart just overflowed. Lew was soon able to join her and hold her for the first time. When he brought her over and I got to see her for the first time I immediately thought, I would do this ten times over for her. It all seemed so worth it. While they were stitching me up I just longed to hold her. That was the hardest part, but there was such a sweetness in watching her and how much she already loved her Daddy. I remember I looked at Lew and said "how do you feel" and he just said "so proud"....it was so precious. Once everything was done they put Miya on my stretcher and wheeled us out to recovery. Soon after Lew and Miya went to the nursery for her to be bathed etc... The 2 hours we were apart seemed like an eternity, but thankfully my Mom and Dad were there to keep me company. Once she came back with her daddy I just couldn't get enough of her! I just kept looking at her and thinking: "we made that, she's ours!?" It all just seemed so hard to believe.

This is us immediately after the C-section being wheeled to the PACU. Do you see my little babushka at the bottom?

My first time holding her in the PACU. I didn't want to let her go....ever! It was hard to let them take her to the nursery.

All I remember at this point was I was so tired....and so high on adrenaline at the same time. It had been a loooong 2 days.

The hospital stay was slightly unnerving at times. Since we had been there for 2 nights already while in labor, having to stay 3 additional nights seemed like forever! Plus let me just say the hospital is not a place to get rest. I had people coming in and out of my room all day and night! The night nurses especially tended to come in and out the most, turning on the bright lights and asking me lots of question while I'm groggy like how many poops and pees Miya has had etc... But we made it and were so thrilled to get home.

Proud papa meeting his daughter
Poor Miya, not to thrilled about being naked and wondering what is going on!

She still likes to have her hands up by her face like this :) If I swaddle her she finds a way to get her hands out

Sweet girl with lots of hair

So peaceful...

Miya is doing great, and we are so thankful to have her as an addition to our family! Although there have been difficult moments being a new Mom, I still can't get over what a beautiful and rewarding experience it is! Our little girl has been so mellow and calm I actually almost called her pediatrician to make sure this was ok. When we saw the pediatrician on Friday she just couldn't tell me enough how fortunate we are to have such a calm peaceful baby! I mean the girl can sleep and sleep and sleep and I usually have to strip her down to get her to eat. So far she loves any and all music and if we sing to her while changing her diaper and clothes that will keep her from crying. I have to say our prayers were answered when we asked God for a sweet calm baby like Lew :) And she has definitely been true to the meaning of her name which is: "temple of peace". We just feel so blessed! I will post more on Miya soon. Hard to believe it's been a week and she is already changing and growing so much!

38 weeks, ready or not!

So I wanted to give a quick update, but first let me say I just can't believe how close we are! I look at the days passing by and think oh my gosh it really will be any day now! And yes, we are so very excited.

This past week I actually got sick again. I know, in the words of my OB "wow this pregnancy has really knocked your immune system out." Yup, he's right. I have pretty much been sick every 2 weeks, but ya know I will probably never appreciate my immune system more than I will after Miya is born. Whatever I have now has been the worst so far, and my doctor believes that it is basically the same infection that never really goes away and just keeps coming back stronger than before. So this time we are trying a stronger antibiotic with a super powered cough syrup with codeine in it. He is really hoping that at least this cough medicine will help me to sleep so I can be well rested for labor...I happen to like the thought of that. We would love your prayers that my body would respond well to these antibiotics and that this will be the end of this sickness for good!

So, in bigger news, baby Miya is really ready to go! I am 2cm dilated and my cervix is pretty much completely thinned out and ready to go. My Dr. just kept saying "oh this is so great, her head is so low and in the most perfect position and your body is just as ready as it can be!" That was music to my ears as I have been having lots of contractions. He said I am very "favorable" for labor and he really thinks she is going to come soon, he feels even stronger about his prediction that I will not make it to my 40 week due date. Sounds wonderful.

So we will keep you posted. Could be any day now, how crazy is that :) Any suggestions of last minute things I should get in before she comes?

Maybe...maybe not :)

Yes, we've entered the "is this it" of pregnancy. It's actually been quite humorous. I have been having semi-strong painful contractions since Thursday, but obviously Miya is not here yet. So there have been many moments of timing them, rushing to pack the bag, and asking each other "could this be it?" I won't complain though, this seems to have been the case for my sister (who had contractions weeks before hand and had short labors both times) sounds great to me. Although the thought of being like this for 2 more weeks does seem a little tough to stomach. I have already started to pray: "Lord I know your timing is perfect...but (gotta love those "buts" in prayers) if it's your will can she come soon?" We are also praying she will come early/on time so Lew's parents can enjoy their first grandchild when they visit the week of our due date. So please pray with us!

The funniest part has been the lack of sleep that has come with this waiting game, especially for my sweet husband. Saturday night I woke him up after having contractions 5 minutes apart that were painful enough I couldn't sleep through them. I jumped out of bed exclaiming "we need to pack the bag!" Needless to say neither of us got good sleep that night and the contractions eventually tapered off. Another funny thing that cracks me up is I tend to want to "check on Lew" throughout the night. I don't know why I do this, but it has only happened since I have been pregnant, and it is definitely worse now as we near the end. Basically, I wake up and get this impulse to "check on him" which looks like a poke, or a tap, or just saying his name. In response poor Lew (who probably thinks I'm waking him because I'm in labor) jumps out of his sleep and replies "are you ok" or "what's wrong?" to which I reply "oh nothing, I just wanted to make sure you were ok". And being the sweet husband he is, he just says ok and rolls over and goes back to sleep. My sister-in-law Rachel reminded me of the Dad from Father of the Bride 2 (which happens to be one of my all time favorite movies) who eventually resorted to sleeping pills because of the many nights of interrupted sleep and false labor. The sleeping pills totally knocked him out and go figure, finally, real labor starts for both his wife and daughter and he is totally incapacitated from the sleeping pills. Resulting in a very funny scenario for everyone. Hopefully it won't get that far for us, but I watched the clip below from the movie and laughed so hard at the thought of it! I included the clip for your viewing pleasure :)



So the waiting game continues. I will find out if there has been any progress on Wednesday. Until them I am walking as much as possible (drs. orders!) and nesting like crazy to keep myself busy. Also an update on my blood pressure: I have been checking it at home and it has been low every time! Yay! Thanks for your prayers. We shall see what happens!

37 weeks and growing....

So, we've reached the "full term" mark which has been oh so fun. I find that every morning I wake up wondering "will it be today?" I know most women (especially first time moms) tend to be overdue...but I still have this feeling that it won't be me. I'm sure some of you mommies out there are laughing at my wishful thinking. Either way it's more fun to wake up every day wondering if today will be the day...Which reminds me I need to pack my bag, I still haven't gotten that far :)

The update:

I saw my OB yesterday and everything looks great, I made a little bit of progress this week which is good, he still holds to his prediction that Miya will come right around her due date maybe a little early. We'll see! My group B strep culture came back negative (which is always good news I suppose) and the only thing that alarmed him a little was my blood pressure was up. However, being the skeptical nurse that I am, I think my BP was up because the nurse took me right back as soon as I walked in the door, had me jump on the scale, go the bathroom and go to the exam room all in one swoop then sat me right down to check my blood pressure. I mean a pregnant woman (37 weeks pregnant at that!) needs a chance to sit and catch her breath! So anyways then once he told me it was high he wanted to check it again, and of course it was still high, but not quite as high as it had been. I told him: "Now that you told me it's high I'm going to be anxious about it and that will probably make it high again!" He decided to be cautious and has instructed me to cut salt (which I hardly eat much salt), drink more water (I don't think this is humanly possible, unless I live in the bathroom) and sit with me feet up most of the day (I'm happy to oblige on this one). I am still slightly skeptical. I think it was a fluke, but what do I know. I haven't had any swelling, which is great, so I am not worried. But if you think of it pray that it will be down for my next visit, so poor Dr. Z can stop worrying about it, and so we can continue to wait for Miya to come on her own.

That's it for now! We'll keep you posted if anything eventful happens :)

A Recap.

Another component of hormones, and lots of time of your hands, is lot's and lots of reflection! I feel like I will spend an hour or so just sitting and "remembering"where Lew and I were a year ago today, or 6 months ago etc... Also as this pregnancy has drawn close to the end I have thought even more about the last 9 months and there is so much I don't want to forget about this journey. Lot's of of the memories are just funny random things, but none the less, I'm sure down the road they will be a fun memory. So, in essence, this is my way of recapping the last 9 months :)
(I'll try to recap in order starting close to the beginning)

-This pregnancy wasn't planned. Our plan was to wait until the fall or winter, which was only a few months away. But now looking back I can see how God's timing was oh so perfect (isn't it always?)

-I had a "gut" feeling I was pregnant at least a week before I took a test to confirm. This was funny because we were in the beginning of the process to buy a home and I had this raging feeling that we should put it on hold, but it was hard to explain to my sweet hubby why. I'll never forget the night we sat with our small group talking through our thoughts on buying now having kids later, or having kids now and buying later...My gut was "kid's now, buy later" and Lew was still trying to sort through what God's will for us was....Just a week later I'll never forget the laughter that erupted when I shared with the dear ladies in our small group that God has made His will "VERY" clear, without a shadow of a doubt :) It was a sweet memory and taught Lew and I a lot about trusting God's timing, rather than our own.

-Lew was the one to tell me I was pregnant. It was a very early morning (probably just slightly before 5) I was getting ready for work and I had taken a pregnancy test but forgot about it (imagine that!) and Lew went to the bathroom and came out with a confused smile and just said "your pregnant!?" It was a funny moment. I wasn't surprised....but I'm pretty sure he was! That was one of the hardest days at work (this is when I was at the PICU) because I was very distracted by the news.

-Our first ultrasound showed that our pregnancy started out as a twin pregnancy, which apparently is very common. I remember the 2 weeks we had to wait in between ultrasounds to confirm if there was 1 or 2...it was a funny time. Though we would receive 2 children as a great gift...we were still overwhelmed by the thought of 1!

-For the first few weeks I took a pregnancy test about every morning just to "be sure" it was real. Thank goodness for dollar tree brand pregnancy tests!

-Morning sickness kicked in at about 7 weeks and progressed until about 14 weeks. Thankfully, I rarely had to throw up during that time frame, but sometimes I almost wished I would. Zofran helped but I was a little leery of taking it too regularly so I just spent a lot of time resting (sleep did wonders on the nausea) and munching on crackers.

-For the first month of my pregnancy I cried every day when I was getting ready to go to work. It was just the thought of working a 12 hour shift and leaving before 6 only to get home after 8 that made me weary. I learned a lot about dependence on the Lord during this weary phase, and boy was it a joy when Lew and I prayerfully decided that transitioning to something part time and a little less demanding was the right decision.

-A few of my cravings in the first trimester: Cereal, most types, but in particular peanut butter captain crunch, life, cracklin oat bran, and peanut butter puffins. I craved fruit like crazy mostly: watermelon, oranges, grapes, and apples. I also liked any fruit juice, for some reason it was hard to just get down water so I really drank a lot of what Lew called my "cocktail" which was either seltzer water mixed with juice, or ginerale mixed with juice (usually cranberry juice). Oh and it had to have lots and lots of ice, crushed was best, especially the crushed ice my hubby made with a plastic bag and our meat mallot :) I also cannot forget my saving grace which was slurpees. I LOVED the coke flavor mixed with a little bit of pina colada. Even as I type this now my mouth is watering. Those things got me through many a hard days. I also loved watermelon italian ice. Another staple was potatoes, I especially loved mashed potatoes from a box! Foods I LOATHED in the first trimester: ANYTHING that had to do with meat....the thought made me gag. Especially ground beef. I remember one night I really wanted to serve Lew and make him a yummy dinner. I think I was going to make tacos, I had everything ready but as soon as I started cooking the ground beef I felt the sickest I think I have ever felt. That meal prep was cut short by a very unfortunate trip to the bathroom....and to be honest it wasn't until recently that cooking ground beef seemed manageable again. I also hated vegetables, garlic or anything that smelled like it. Funny enough I hated most foods that had an odor, so that eliminated most cooked food. So, basically I drank most of my nutrition during the first trimester!

The only cravings I can think of that have carried all the way through to this point: still the fruit juice thing with ice, oranges and most fruit, scrambled eggs, and potatoes. We pretty much eat scrambled eggs once a day :) I also crave potbelly's a lot. Once I got over the "no meat" phase all I wanted was the italian sub from there with everything on it including lots and lots of hot peppers.

-I felt her first movement around 16 weeks. I don't remember what I was doing but all I remember was feeling what felt like bubbles, or popcorn. The feelings got stronger and stronger and by 18 weeks I was feeling definite movement.

-When it came time to find out the gender almost everybody was certain it was a boy, (shout out to Sam, Priscila, Mama Lewis, and Kelly who guessed girl :)) In fact still to this day I have random strangers come up to be and try to convince me that I am carrying a boy. I kid you not. If I had a penny for every stranger that comes up to me and says "oh it's a boy!" I would be a wealthy woman. I had one funny encounter with a woman at my work who said "oh you are definitely having a boy!" I assured her "nope ultrasound says it's a girl" and she replied with "Oh he's hiding it well, huh?!" I almost burst into tears... In fact it made me very alarmed that maybe the ultrasound tech had seen things wrong on the 20 week ultrasound. Thankfully I was able to breath a sigh of relief at the 36 week ultrasound when she assured me "it's still a girl!"

-This pregnancy is the first one (since my sister Hannah had Isaiah, the first grandbaby) where I am pregnant alone. Usually pregnancies come by twos in our family. But now I can't help but wonder, whose next? :) I have my guesses.

-This makes grandchild number 6 for my parents. That is 6 little ones under the age of 3!! It's hard to believe how close in age they are because they are all in such different stages right now. But I hope they will all be close when they are older. And I hope Brendon and Isaiah will protect all the girls :)

-We called Miya "poppy" up until we found out she was a girl and named her. It's hard to believe that she started out as a poppy seed and now is a watermelon!

-We were pretty certain about our chosen names by about 10 or 12 weeks. The boy name was a lot harder than the girls name, but we didn't fight at all over names. I think we kid around a lot, Lew had some very interesting choices picked out, but thankfully we were able to peacefully come up with names we both really liked.

-Lew has been unashamedly talking/singing/reading to my belly since about 10 weeks. Before she could hear of course, but I love his tender heart for this child growing in my belly :) Since about 25 weeks she loves to hear his voice. When he starts talking she just starts to move like crazy. She is gonna love her daddy, and I can't wait to see it.

-I loved the 2nd trimester. In fact I think the 2nd trimester is real gift from God, and probably the reason most women make it through the pregnancy sanely. I had bursts of energy during those 14 weeks that I don't know if I'll ever see again! I would tend to forget I was pregnant too, if it weren't for that growing bump.

-These past few weeks I entered this phase where I feel safest at home, or close to home. Isn't that funny? I have tried to explain it to Lew, it's this feeling of "she is coming any minute and I need to be close to home". Now granted I am just 36 weeks, so more than likely I have a few weeks to go, but I still feel this "safety" at home. I thought it was just be until I read about it in "What to Expect When you are Expecting." Apparently it's an instinct like the nesting instinct.

-I couldn't stand the sight or smell of coffee for the whole first trimester, but by the middle of the second trimester I would have some occasionally. Then when the 3rd trimester fatigue hit I wanted it more often. Lew and I made this "agreement" that if I was going to get coffee every day he would make the coffee and I would either get regular coffee, decaf, or half reg/decaf. The point has been to keep me from knowing what I am getting so I don't get hooked on the caffeine. It kind of makes me laugh though because I am usually pretty certain what I am getting, because by about 9 I can tell that I am running out of steam :) But it has worked pretty well so far.

I think that is it for now. Haha I wonder if anyone actually read this far! I think I did it more for the memory, so I guess it was a very selfish blog post!

Here is the most recent belly shot. We took it during 35 weeks. You can see how high she is, but she has since dropped some (Praise the LORD!) so I can breath slightly better and keep down more than a tablespoon of food at a time :)

Getting close

I still can't get over how close we are. But I have a feeling these next few weeks will begin to drag on. Especially with more sunlight...the days are longer, which normally I enjoy, and trust me I am trying to enjoy them! But I must say I have turned the corner and am getting close to the "pretty please let labor come soon" phase.

Today I had my 36 week checkup and it was so surreal. We got to see our little girlie one last time before we see her for real and it was so sweet to see her. She is still looking nice and healthy. And we were happy to find out "she" is still a "she". Yes I was slightly fearful that maybe just maybe the 20 week ultra sound was wrong, but the tech happily confirmed, she is all girl. She is measuring somewhere around 5lbs 12 oz. (give or take 1/2 a pound or so). Dr. Z is predicting she will be somewhere between the high end of 6 or low 7 lbs at birth, which is fine by me. I also found out that her head is a wonderful size, whatever that means :) I figure Dr.Z knows enough about this stuff and if he says it's good it must be good. Basically he was trying to explain how it's not too big and not too small. Apparently if it's too small it won't apply even pressure to the cervix during labor...so yippee for a good a good size head. Lew was able to come to this appointment and it was fun having him there. In fact he was so excited to be there he almost fainted during the ultrasound! When we wrapped things up I looked over to see my pale husband bracing for the wall and saying "I don't feel so well". Poor guy. The ultrasound tech just laughed and said "this happens to dads all the time! They get so excited and nervous when it comes close to the baby coming and sometimes they get faint." After getting something to drink he recovered ..and to his credit it was warm in the ultrasound room :)

I was hoping my contractions these last few weeks were actually causing some action, but I found out I am only at 1cm right now, which is pretty typical. She has dropped some which has provided some much needed comfort and allowed for slightly better digestion (and breathing!)

So now we wait. I asked my Dr if he thought she would be late or on time and he said he has a really good feeling that she will be very close to her due date, if not early. I know he's only guessing, but still! A girl has to hold on to some hope!

I took a belly shot the other day but still need to upload it. That is the update for now. I would love prayers for labor to start some time in the next 2 weeks :)

Just a glimpse...

...into this hormonal girl right now.

Lew and I were in the car last night eating some Rita's and the song "It won't be like this for long" by Darius Rucker came on...and I burst into tears. I mean it wasn't just a tear here or there, it was like full on tears. Yeah I'm not a big crier, but I think I have a cried at least once a day for the past week. Sometimes it just catches me by surprise. Thankfully usually the tears are followed by bursts of laughter. That seems to be the way these hormones work. Tears than unstoppable laughter. It's actually rather enjoyable. At least it gives Lew a good laugh.

Anyways here are the lyrics to the song. I mean seriously can you blame me for crying? :) (I also added the song to my playlist)

He didnt have to wake up
He'd been up all nite
Lay'n there in bed listen'n
To his new born baby cry
He makes a pot of coffee
He splashes water on his face
His wife gives him a kiss and says
It gonna be ok
It wont be like this for long

One day soon we'll look back laugh'n
At the week we brought her home
This phase is gonna fly by
So baby just hold on
It wont be like this for long

Four years later bout four thirty
She's crawling in there bed
And when he drops her off at preschool
She's clinging to his leg
The teacher peels her off of him
He says what can i do
She says now dont you worry
This will only last a week or two

It wont be like this for long
One day soon we'll drop her off
And she wont even know your gone
This phase is gonna fly by
If you can just hold on
It wont be like this for long

One day soon she'll be a teenager
And at times you'll think she hates him
Then he'll walk her down the isle
And he'll raise her vale
But right now she up and cry'n
And the truth is that he dont mind
As he kisses her good night
And she says her prayers
He lays down there beside her
Till her eyes are finally closed
And just watch'n her it breaks his heart
Cause he already knows
It wont be like this for long
One day soon that little girl is gonna be
All grown up and gone
Yeah this phase is gonna fly by
He's try'n to hold on
It wont be like this for long
It wont be like this for long

And just because I can't help myself here is the music video which, yes, made me cry as well. (You will have to pause the music at the bottom for the video). If things keep going at this rate we are in for a really fun few weeks :)

Darius Rucker More CMT Music More CMT Music Videos

*primal instincts*

Yes folks the oh so "natural" urge to nest has kicked into high gear. All I can say is poor Lew is getting dragged along for the ride, but unfortunately he doesn't get the adrenaline rush that I get with nesting.

It all started Saturday morning. We had planned to go to Ikea to get a few things we still needed for the nursery. It seemed like everything we needed was there and we headed back home. In Lew's mind we were done for the day and would enjoy a nice relaxing day at home. In fact I think he even mentioned something about a tea party and reading together (yes my sweet love enjoys tea parties with his wife, and I'm sure his daughter will enjoy this about him when she is old enough to partake). Anyways, this pregnant woman had a very different idea. I got home and began opening and assembling everything we got at warped speed. I almost felt compelled to get everything done. So here I am assembling, hanging, and sorting poor Lew is just sitting puzzled...what happened to a nice relaxing tea party? There was no stopping me at this point. Until we found out we bought the wrong size curtain rod. Instead of just waiting to go back to ikea another time and return the wrong one for the correct size we ended up going back out to target to get the proper size rod (I wonder whose idea that was). Then we got home and the madness didn't stop there. I insisted that we could hang the curtain rod without a drill. Neither of us had done it before and I was sure we could do it. Of course I was wrong and it took about 4 holes in the wall and no progress to figure that out.

Around 4 (our day of nesting started at 8am mind you) Lew finally got his break. While I still tried to sort through clothes, books, baby stuff etc... Once Lew woke up from his nap we decided to borrow a drill from a friend (thanks Remy's!) and give the curtain rod another try. So we got the drill but still couldn't get the holes to go in as far as the screw needed to go in, it was like we were hitting metal at a certain point. We tried different spots thinking maybe it was just these certain areas of the wall...but still no success. Finally after a long time of trying and poor Lew standing on top of 2 phone books on a chair (see what he'll do to make his pregnant wife happy!) we finally had a successful hole on the right side. We were sure we figured out the perfect spot and went to finish up on the left side, except we still couldn't get the hole to work on the left side. We both sat down exhausted and did what any smart person would do...turned to our friend google. I don't remember what google told Lew to do but finally after one last attempt he got it! And there was lots of rejoicing in Miya's room! We hung the curtains and then looked up and laughed at the 6 or 7 "practice" holes that we made in our several attempts. We will no doubt never forget this day of nesting :) Then after we got the curtains hung I sat in the rocking chair and just looked around for a long while. I couldn't believe how much we got done in one day! We are pretty much done. Now we just wait for our sweet girl to make her arrival. The next project is to organize her closet. But I promised Lew we would take a few weeks for that...poor guy needs a break. I just never could have believed just how primal this nesting instinct is! It was as if in my mind there was no stopping these things just "had" to get done...even though there are 5 weeks left....it just doesn't seem very long, and what if she comes early (wishful thinking on my part?) We finally were done by 9 and I laid in bed awake for many hours thinking about things we still may need to get done before Miya comes. Then when I finally dozed off I dreamt about anchor screws and draperies. It seems my mind couldn't stop even though my body had finally slowed down.

Well without further ado, if any of you are still reading after the "book" I wrote above here are a few pictures of the progress we made. It's finally coming together. I just can't believe how fast time is going! Do you see those numbers on the side...34 more days. Yikes :)

The curtains finally hung :)

It's hard to see in this picture but the little birdie mobile was one of my favorite purchase from etsy! It was a surprise from Lew. You can get a better look at it here.

I was so thankful for this find at ikea. Originally we were trying to find a small table for next to the rocker. We wanted a place to sit a small lamp as well as a place to store nursing stuff and other stuff I might need easy access to. Well we couldn't find one that would fit the space well so instead we found these little cloth compartments that you can hang on the wall! It's supposed to be for magazines but works perfect for baby stuff and is reachable from the rocker and the changing table. Then we found a little lamp we could mount on the wall. Now we don't have to worry about another piece of furniture crowding the room.

Well that's it. For now. I still can't believe how fast time is going. I just can't wait to meet this sweet little girl. I will probably post a real pregnancy update later on today.