Some things I am learning and re learning

Since coming home from the hospital I have learned and re learned some things about pregnancy, post pregnancy, newborns, etc. Most are frustrating things, some are funny things and some are things I should have remembered and totally forgotten about.

1. Pj's. PJ's with buttons on them are horrible. When changing a diaper in the middle of the night in the dark and you have to re button your babies jammies.... most mornings she wakes up and her jammies are so jacked up.

2. Body back When you near the end of your pregnancy you go once this baby gets out I will have my body back... NOT! Once your baby comes you are on 24 hour food duty. You are on call all the time to produce milk and feed your baby. Don't get me wrong I LOVE nursing. Love it. But I really should have remembered that you don't fully get to have your body back till you are done nursing.

3.Working out. Another thing I kept thinking was once I have her I can start working out again at about 4 weeks... once again wrong-o. I tried to work out at 4 weeks post partum, well I ended up heavily bleeding for a few days afterwards because my body wasn't ready yet. So I tried again this week (5.5 weeks post partum) and I had been doing great but nope started having problems again. Sigh maybe that's why they tell you to wait till 8 weeks. But let me tell you its so not easy to wait 8 weeks when you feel like you look like a pig.

4. Baby spit up. I cant believe I forgot how frustrating baby spit up can be. I am a walking talking spit rag. I feel like I smell like spit up even after I take a shower. And who ever said breast milk babies spit up don't smell, well they need to come smell my babys spit up cause it stinks.

5. Some babies hate their car seats. This is new to me. Ive heard it before but I have never experienced it. But Miss T HATES her carseat more then anything. She cries from the moment I place her in it till the moment I take her out.

6. Laundry. Oh Laundry. I wash her blankets and burp cloths. I dry them, I fold them, I put them away in her draws, I take one out to use, she spits up on it, I throw it in the basket and I start the whole process over again. This is a daily thing. I dont know why I fold them, I dont know why I put them away. I dont understand why I do this. Maybe I have OCD since everything always has to be in its place, I dont know. But what I do know is that I HATE this process and its getting old fast!

7. Pumping. Im not quite sure why this happens but its new to me, every time I pump I pump everything I have and I feed it to Miss T well its never enough. But if I feed Miss T, via boob, she eats everything I have and is satisfied. Do they get more sucking then the pump can get? I only pump in the afternoon cause she normally sleeps through her 3 o'clock feeding and I need relief so I pump and when she wakes up at 4 I feed her the bottle and every time she is pissed off to the max and I have to nurse her. So frustrating.

8. Maternity clothes. I thought for sure I would be able to walk in my house and throw out all my maternity clothes... HA! None of my clothes fit at all. My maternity clothes are too big, my pre baby clothes are too small. I literally have 2 choices where clothes too big or wear clothes too tight... gee which one sucks less. So I choose to wear workout clothes all the time cause they at least kinda fit. The problem with this is Im forever in my workout clothes and never in cute clothes. I want to wear cute clothes again! I want to not look frumpy any more, I want clothes that fit, I want to not have this awesome muffin top thing going on when I put on my pre preggo jeans.

9. Newborn clothes. Why do we buy newborn clothes they only last a week or 2. Tell me why did I spend money on clothes she wore once?

10. Touching. Why does every person in America want to touch a newborn. I know they are cute and have soft skin and are so stinkin adorable. But I have no clue if your hands are clean, I have no clue if you have a cold or are sick, I have no clue who YOU ARE. It makes me so nervous when people want to touch her and Im such a guilty person that I always say yes and then immediately after they are gone I rub anti bacterial soap on her. Paranoid... maybe.

11. Doing it alone. This is one Im struggling with daily. I know Im a military wife and that means having to do alot of things alone. But raising a newborn and a toddler on your own is HARD work. I dont have someone coming home at 5 and helping me the rest of the night. I dont have someone to get up at 3 am and occasionally help me change a diaper, I dont have anyone to help me when the baby is screaming cause she wants to be fed and the toddler is screaming cause he wants attention. Its harder then I ever thought it would be. I honestly think that it would be a piece of cake if Chris were home. So ladies if your husband is home take a moment to appreciate them and all they do cause I would give anything to have mine home.

So those are a few things I am dealing with right now. Some are things I already knew and forgot about and some are completely new to me. But all I can do is take it all one day at a time and re learn and deal with everything that comes my way. Im doing the best I can and I know that. And I also know that this wont last forever. I know eventually I will have my body back, I know that eventually my husband will be home, and eventually she will be older and eventually my kiddos will love each other and I know the laundry will never end. =)

Tenley is 1 Month Old!!

1 MONTH OLD!!!

 

I can not believe my baby girl is 1 month old! Time has gone by so fast. I can not believe that a whole month has passed. I feel like just yesterday I had her in the front seat of the car. bahaha. I am falling more and more in love with her everyday and so is Marcus. Marcus loves to hold her and he tries to play with her and he loves to walk up and wake her up when shes sleeping. Mommy dosent care for that one too much. Heres just a few fun facts. She loves tummy time, she HATES her car seat, and she loves to watch reality tv with mommy. (Ha I made that last one up. But seriously she sits in my lap everynight and watches my bad reality tv with me and she never makes a peep) But happy 1 month birthday baby girl. Our life is feeling more complete with you here. I just wish your daddy was here because then we would be 110% complete. =)                    

 

                                                                          BABY STATS:

SLEEP: You are still my amazing sleeper. You LOVE to sleep. You will sleep any and everywhere. Your day/night is this. You wake up for the day at 830. You are awake till 11 and then take a 4 hour nap. You wake up and are up till 5 and then you doze off and on till 930 and we go to bed and you sleep till 4 and then the day starts all over again.

 

FEED: You are still breastfeed. I am so proud of you. You are a breast feeding champ. You eat every 3 hours except for your 4 hour nap and during the night. But you eat for about 6-8 mins each side.

Weight:  Last time you were weighed you weighed 8lbs 11oz

Length: 21.5 in 

Milestone: You love tummy time and you are getting so good at lifting your head. Most the time you are trying to find "the sucky thing" but you lift your head up and will keep it up for a good while.

Your favorite toy: Your bouncer.  

 

Favorite Memory: I have 2 this month. The first one is sitting on the couch with you and Marcus. Marcus was holding my hand and you were sleeping in my arms. Its moments like that that just break my heart. I love you both so much. My 2nd favorite memory is we went to Barnes and Nobles for story time and we used the double stroller for the first time. Well we were waiting for mommys coffee and some little boy comes up and looks at you and reaches his hand out to probably touch your feet or something and Marcus goes "No! My baby!!" and leans foward and puts his hands in front of you as if to protect you. It was the cutest thing in the whole world and you were looking at your big brother the whole time.  

 

Here's a few pics of our little Love Bug at 1 month old

 

Mommy Stats:

Pre-Pregnancy weight: n/a

Day of delivery weight: n/a
Current weight: haha. still not posting

Weight Gained: 33lbs

Weight Lost So Far: 26lbs

Weight to go: 7lbs till pre baby but still hoping to lose another 40. I really want to be at the weight I was at was before I got pregnant with Marcus. So 47lbs weight loss here we come. My goal is 27lbs by Dec. Which is 7lbs a month for 4 months. I can do it!!  

Pre-Pregnancy cup size: 34B
Current cup size: Its finally gone down to about a 38 C

Pre-pregnancy size: 9
Current size: Yea I live in my yoga pants. Haha. Im not even gonna try jeans until I at least lose those other 7lbs.

Our little blessings

So last week my little man turned 2 and a half and today Tenley turns 4 weeks old. It hit me kind of hard. Everyday I look at him and think how did you get so big? When did you become this big boy? Where did my baby go?

8 years ago I was told that my chances of ever getting pregnant were slim to none or we would need "help" conceiving. At 16 years old I wasn't overly concerned about it. I didn't want to have a baby for years so I would "deal" with it then. When Chris and I decided to get married at 18 I knew that I had to "deal" with it then. Not because I wanted kids right away but because I needed to make sure that Chris knew it was a possibility and make sure he knew what he was getting himself into. He reassured me that he wanted to be with me and if that meant never having kids well then that was ok. Fast forward 3 years into our marriage. I was still being told that we would need "help" to have a baby. So we still were thinking it wasn't going to happen until one day I had Chris run over to his moms house for something we needed for our trip to FL for 2 weeks and while he was gone I got a funny feeling and went and took a pregnancy test. You ask why I even had one. Well I had one because even though I knew it couldn't happen. I still took a test A LOT! We never used birth control and I always thought humm I think my period should already be here and I would take a test and it would always say NEGATIVE or NOT PREGNANT. Well this time I took the test and walked away knowing that it would say the same thing but I thought maybe I should make sure before we go and celebrate my 21st birthday in FL. So I walked away and about 10 mins later I walked into the bathroom to pack my bathroom stuff and glanced at the test and had to do a double triple take and say the word PREGNANT. I sat down in the middle of the bathroom floor and started shaking. Im not quite sure why I was so scared and why I started shaking but I was terrified. I called Chris and told him I took a test and that I needed another one cause it was probably broken. Well I sat on the floor until Chris came rushing home with another test and I took both and they both said positive. Chris started crying and I started crying and it was the happiest moment of my life thinking that there was this little miracle baby growing in my belly. I hadn't wanted to get pregnant so young and so early into our marriage. But knowing God had blessed us with this little baby made everything ok.

I will always hold a very very special place in my heart just for Marcus because he was never supposed to be here. He is our little miracle and to look at him now it melts my heart because I cant imagine life without him. I love him more then words can ever say and everytime he hits a new milestone Im reminded of how precious life is and how you should never take it for granted.

I am now blessed with two little miracles. My doctors said the cure for what I had was getting pregnant. At the time its like so what I have means I can never get pregnant but the best cure for it is getting pregnant. Gee thanks. But obviously it was the cure cause after 6 months of trying to get pregnant we found out I was pregnant again. God really does work in mysterious ways. We went into our marriage thinking we would be one of those old married couples with no kids and we were fine with that. But now we are a young couple with 2 kids under 3. I feel so blessed and so grateful for what we have been given.

Marcus Levi you are the light in my life. Your laughter melts my heart. I love to sit and watch you play and run around and scream. I love how you say I love you. I love how much you love your little sister and how protective you are of her I love how you come running up to me when you hurt yourself and want me to blow on your boo boo. I love how if you see that I have a boo boo you blow on it and say okay mommy. I love how you come and sit on the couch and hold my hand. I love how much you shake when you are signing please or more cause you want something so badly. I just love you little man and cant believe you are 2.5 years old.

Tenley Prius you are this little angel baby. I love snuggling with you. I would snuggle with you all day long if I could. I love how you don't cry during the night when your hungry you just lay in your crib and go "urgggggghhhhh" haha. I love you so much already and cant wait to see the person you are going to become. I can not believe you are 4 weeks old today. Time is seriously passing by so fast and I want to stop it for awhile and snuggle with you.

I know this was a long sappy blog. But its hard to think about my babies growing up and its hard to think about what life would have been like without them. I cant imagine my life any other way. I love those 2 kiddos so much. I just cant wait until Daddy is home and can see them and we can finally all be together again. =)

2 weeks old

2 Weeks Old!!!!

Your 2 weeks old sweetheart!! I can not believe how fast time has gone by. I can not believe 2 weeks ago I gave birth to you and now your here. Your apart of our family, you have become part of our daily routine, you have wiggled your way even deeper into my heart. I love you so much. Your brother even loves you a little more this week ;) He has finally started to get used to you and not be as jealous.                   

 

                                                            BABY STATS:

SLEEP: You still sleep a lot of the day. Your up for about 3-4 hours off and on through out the day. At night you go about 5-6 hours, wake up eat and go right back to sleep for about 4 hours. 

 

FEED: You are still being Breast feed!! Which I am so excited about cause your brother ate so much I couldnt keep up so he got formula during week 2 and so far you are only breast feed. You eat every 3 hours during the day for about 15-20 mins total.

Weight:  Not sure how much you weigh you have your 2 week doc appt this week so we will see then.

Length: Find out this week =) 

Milestone: Your cord fell out this week. It was kinda sad cause that just means your starting the process of growing up =( 

Your favorite toy: Still your sleeper. You have become quite found of your swing though.  

 

Favorite Memory: Sitting on the couch snuggling with you while your brother napped and watching Love in the Wild. You were so happy and so awake and listening to me talk all about the show. It really made me realize that I now have someone to talk to about my reality tv show addiction. lol.

 

Here's a few pics of Miss T at 2 weeks old

 



Love how she holds her hands



I know its dark but my mom doesn't know how to use my camera. haha. so she couldnt use the flash. But its Miss T and I passed out cold after a trip to the commissary. Silly me went grocery shopping on payday with a 2 week old =(

 

1 week old

                                         

1 Week Old!!

 

1 Week ago I gave birth to our first daughter

1 Week ago we went from a family of 3 to a family of 4

1 Week ago we fell in love with our second child

Happy 1 week birthday my Love Bug, Tenley

Here is what has happened in the past week:

BABY STATS:

SLEEP: You pretty much sleep all day. You wake up now and again but you pretty much sleep. As for at night you go to bed between 9 and 10 and sleep till between 3 and 4. You eat and go back to sleep till 7 or 8. You LOVE your sleep.

 

FEED: You Love to eat, when it dosent get in the way of you sleeping. You are breast feed and we so far are not having ANY trouble, Knock on wood it stays that way. You eat about every 3 hours except at night. I tried to wake you up the first night we were home and I learned my lesson. DO NOT EVER WAKE YOU UP AT NIGHT!

Weight:  You weighed 8lbs 1oz when you were born. You left the hospital weighing 7lbs 7oz and at your 48 hour appt you weiged 7lbs 10oz. Which is GREAT!


Length: 21in long at birth, 21in long at 4 day old appt. 

Milestone: Sleeping 6.5 hours last night! I

Your favorite toy: You love your sleeper. You would sleep in it all day long if I let you. 

 

Favorite Memory: I had you on the floor and your brother came up and sat on the blanket with you, patted the floor and demanded she sit in your lap. So I layed you on his lap and he held your hand. It was the sweetest thing ever.
 

 

Here's just a few pictures of her photo shoot today:

 

 

 

Mommy Stats:

Pre-Pregnancy weight: n/a

Day of delivery weight: n/a
Current weight: haha. like Im posting any of these stats
Weight Gained: 33lbs

Weight Lost So Far: 20lbs

Weight to go: 13lbs to be at pre-preg but in reality I have about 43 until Im happy with my weight. Which is my goal for Chris R&R in Dec. So 43lb weight loss here I come!!
Pre-Pregnancy cup size: 34B
Current cup size: 38D. Gotta love breast feeding
Pre-pregnancy size: 9
Current size: Um maternity jeans. I have not and will not try on pre-preg jeans yet.

Birth Story

Tenley's birth story is something I will remember all my life. I think God took me literal when I said I wanted a natural, spontaneous labor. And boy did I. There might be too much TMI but this is my story and I don't know anyway else to put it so sorry if theres to much TMI. But here it is, my little girls birth story.

July 16th 2am I wake up with bad cramps. As most of you know I went to L&D on the 12th with bad cramps and they could have cared less. So I thought it was "normal". I laid in bed with bad cramps from 2-4 watching Say Yes To The Dress. Then right at 4 I started getting contractions. Not bad contractions and not consistent contractions but contractions. So I lay in bed for about another 45 mins and realize that they are coming about every 5-7 mins. Maybe finally something is going to happen. So I get up and go lay in the living room waiting to see if they get closer. Around 530 they start to get pretty painful, but I still wasn't sure if I was in labor. Everyone always tells you that contractions make your whole stomach hard. So everytime I "felt" one I would feel my belly. The top part was hard but the bottom was still soft but my back felt like it was on fire. I was so lost as to weather this was it or not. Then at 530 I got hit with the worst pain of my life and started bawling my eyes out and went and got my mom. She started asking me all kinds of questions and finally said "Lay on the couch and lets see how far apart they are and if they stay for an hour." My hospital always says come in once they are 5 mins apart for 2 hours or if your water breaks or if you have bleeding. So we knew by now that we needed to wait at least an hour also my water hadn't broken so we knew if I were in Labor I was at the beginning stages. So I laid back on the couch my mom but on some show for me and she went and made coffee and took a shower. At 615 I felt like I needed to pee so I went to the bathroom and when I wiped there was blood. I was so excited to see the blood because that meant I was really in Labor and we could go in right then and there. I figured I lost my mucus plug and that's what the light bleeding was from. So I went and told my mom we needed to leave so we got into the car at 630. It took me a little to get to the car because I was in so much pain. My back was on fire I could hardly move. Marcus was screaming cause he had never seen mommy in so much pain. I tried so hard to not scream or cry while I was having a contraction but it was so hard and as we are walking out the door I fell to the floor and Marcus lost it. He was screaming and freaking out and it made it really hard to leave but I knew we needed to. So it took me 15 mins to get to the car from the time I started bleeding.
Once we are in the car my mom tells me that she is going to speed and that the bumps and turns and everything will hurt and that she was sorry in advance. Let me tell you she wasn't kidding. She speed out of the neighborhood at 40 miles an hour and everytime she turned or stoped it hurt. At one point I look at the MPH and she was going 70 in a 45. haha. She was freaking out a little. My contractions were still coming about 3-4 mins apart and I was still talking in between them so I thought we had time...
We got to seventy 1st school rd and raeford rd when I first had an urge to push and I told my mom and she goes "Don't you dare push Ashley". haha easier said then done. We make it through that light and go about a mile and I have a contraction and during the contraction my body starts to naturally push. I tell my mom and she says "Your water hasn't even broken yet, you cant push, we are about half way there just wait!" Then I have another contraction about .5 miles later and once again my body naturally pushes and this time something kinda comes out and I reach down and feel and there is something there and I scream at my mom to pull over and call 911 because I was having a baby. She pulls into the Seventy 1st School Rd and Cliffdale Rd gas station and calls 911.
It was actually kinda funny her calling 911 cause my car is a smart car, Prius, and has the blue tooth and she cant work it so I'm sitting there about to have a baby telling her how to work my car. Even then I was laughing. So she gets the operator on the phone and tells her whats happening and where we are. Then the lady starts asking if we have towels and blankets and shoe ties and I start wigging out cause that's when it hit me that I was about to have a baby IN MY CAR!! The operator says to not push and try to wait and so I did. I waited for 5 mins. It was the longest 5 mins of my life and I did not push. Even though I wanted to so badly.
The fire truck arrives 1st before the paramedics and run over to me and asses the situation and at this point my pants are still on and hes like ok lets see where you are and we take my pants off which hurt so badly and looks down to see a white eye. It sounds strange but that's what it was. I started freaking out and he explains to me that I was delivering the baby still in the amniotic sack. When your water breaks it breaks the sack but because she decided to come so fast it never broke. So he asked me to wait and not push until the paramedics arrived and I told him no that I was told to wait till help arrived and I did and I needed to push now and he said okay lets have a baby.
I'm still sitting in the front seat of my tiny prius and the seat cant go back all the way cause Marcus car seat is in the way so the fireman pulls one leg up and my mom who is in the drivers seat pulls my other leg up and her head pretty much falls out. Its still in the sack so the fireman asks for a scapal and I about freak out thinking he's going to cut me and I scream "No! Don't cut me!" He kinda laughs and says "I'm just breaking the sack so we can get her to breath." haha silly me. So he breaks the sack and tells me to push and she just falls out onto the seat with one push. I look down and there's my little girl.
I hear someone in the background say 655. My little girl was born in a car at 655 in the morning. They got her breathing and cut the cord and laid her on my chest and I started crying. I kept saying "Is she okay? I just had a baby... in a car... in a prius" I couldn't say anything else. I was in too much shock. I just kept looking at her and thinking about how amazing she was and how much I loved her and how crazy this was.
While I was in my la la land they gave her an Apgar score of a 9 and said she was beautiful and her color was amazing and that no one could believe how great we were doing with what just happened. They firemen all took a long sheet and wrapped it around the stretcher and car so that I could get up on the stretcher without anyone seeing my naked bottom. I got on the stretcher with Miss Tenley and we were taken to the hospital.
Once we got to the hospital things got pretty normal. We were taken straight to a room and hooked up to monitors. She was taken from me and they started testing her. I was giving pitocin and morphine right away and kinda went into a happy place. Tenley was tested for a good hour. I had GBS which meant as soon as my water broke I needed to be put on antibiotics because GBS can be harmful to the baby so they had to take extra precautions because of that and then they had to take extra care cause she was born outside the hospital so they ran a million test on her and everything came back negative. She is healthy as can be. They checked me and I checked out great no tearing or anything and all my blood work came back great. So they moved us to a mother birthing room and that's where we stayed for the next 48 hours.
The whole thing was absolutely CRAZY. No one knows how I went that fast. They think I was in active labor from about 4 on, so I went from 0 to 10 in 2 hours and 55 mins. I didnt even know you could go that fast, I didn't know you could have a baby without your water breaking first, I didn't know that natural birth hurt THAT bad, I also didn't know that back labor is the WORST form of labor ever! I learned a lot from this experience. I also know if I ever decide to have another baby I will be camping out in the hospital from 39 weeks on. haha. I am just so grateful that she is ok. I am so grateful to the amazing fire station that delivered my baby and kept me sane. I am so grateful to my amazing mom for keeping me calm and being there to experience that with me. I am just so grateful and so happy that she is here and we are both healthy. I honestly believe God had her come this way so that I wouldn't have to think about Chris missing her birth. I was really upset about that and while I was in that car the only thing I cared about was her and that she was going to be okay. 
 Many of you have been asking about her name and yes we did change her name from Tenley Grace to Tenley Prius. I had to somehow document her birth and I figure the best way was to put Prius in her name. I mean come on she was born in a PRIUS! haha. Also if you look up Prius it means to come before. And she definitely came before. So that is her name and I love it. =) The nurses at the hospital kept asking me if I was going to name her Prius and I kept saying I needed to talk to my husband so as soon as Chris and I had decided I got a new nurse who wanted me so badly to name her Prius and when I told her that her name would be Tenley Prius she was so happy. She wrote it on the dry earse board and then told everyone. We seriously had the best care in the world at the hospital. I know GASP! I said we had good care at WOMACK. haha. But we did. I am forever grateful to the nurses there and the firemen that helped delivered Tenley.
So there it is. Miss Tenley's birth story. It is something I will remember forever. I look at her and think I cant believe how you entered into this world. I cant believe you are here. I cant believe I am a mother of 2 amazing kids. I just feel so blessed and am completely in love with them.

Miss Tenley Update =)

So Im slightly frustrated with people and things people do. I know the stereotypical overdue pregnant person is miserable and hates life and blah blah blah. Well Im here to inform you that thats NOT always the case. I sit here an overdue pregnant woman and I have to say its not that bad. Yes my back hurts, yes my legs are swollen, yes I'm having trouble sleeping, yes I want to meet my sweet little girl but I'M HAPPY!! I have my moments where I dont want to be pregnant anymore but that dosent give people the right to say things and assume things they dont know. It especially dosent give people the right to walk up to me and say "You poor poor thing. Your so huge how are you walking right now?" or "Oh my gosh that thing is huge! Shouldnt you be sitting down?" or "Oh my goodness do you have twins in there? Why are you still pregnant?" or "You must be having a boy cause your so big." Like seriously people? What is wrong with you? Where is your filter? I am happy and I feel like my belly is the perfect size. Its just right for my baby girl. Ive gained a normal amout of weight and everything is fine. I just have a what looks like a beach ball under my shirt. But you know what. My baby girl is perfectly happy and healthy. Im also so sick of people going when are you having that baby? Like I control when she comes? Come on people babies have minds of their own. They come when they are ready. I dont need people making me feel bad because I havnt had her and I especially dont need people making me feel like Im doing something wrong because shes not here yet.  Im just so over rude strangers and ignorant people. If you dont have anything nice to say DONT SAY IT!

If I want to be an overdue happy pregnant person then let me. Maybe all the pregnant people are so miserable because they have to listen to rude people all day long.

So there is my ranting of the day. Obviously I ran into way too many rude people while I was at the Docs, Target and Walmart.

But here's what you all wanted... A miss Tenley update.

I went to the Doc this afternoon and nothing much happened. My blood pressure was a little high and they are a little concerned and had me do some blood work and a 24 hour urine to see if I have pre eclampsia. If I do they will induce me tomorrow. Once they get my 24 hour urine back they will take more blood and if any of those are elevated I will get induced on monday. Then on tuesday if I dont have pre eclampsia I go in and they will check my anomitic fluid levels and if its below a 5 they will induce me that day. Then if my levels are above a 5 I will be induced for sure on thursday the 21st of July.

So there are alot of if this happens or if this happens going on. Its just going to be a waiting game for the next 6 days trying to figure out what is going to happen first. I really honestly believe she wont be coming till the 21st and thats perfectly fine with me. I would really love for her to come on her own. I really wanted to have my water break randomly or have contractions start and feel them get closer and closer and then have to be rushed to the hospital. I know it sounds silly but I think it would be nice to have it be spontaneous and have her come naturally when she wants to and when she is ready.

So thats the Miss T update. So if you want to say a little pray that she will come naturally on her own between now and the 21st that would be great. =)

Summer Time

I personally LOVE summer time. I love spending time with my little man and taking him to all these fun places around town and watching him learn and have fun. I love spending most days by the pool and occasionally going to the park. What I would love more then anything is to take these summer days Im spending with Marcus and wrap them in a box and never forget them. One day he will want to spend his summer's with his friends and, Lord help me, maybe his girlfriend. But he will no longer want to swim and play and watch movies with his mama. So for now we are going to keep enjoying these summer days. Here are a few pictures of what we have been up to lately. Not too many pictures but thats because I'm enjoying the days and not thinking about documenting them until afterwards. I need to start to or I will regret it years down the road.

40 Weeks Pregnant...

So today I am 40 weeks pregnant.

Thats right I made it to my due date July 12, 2011.

 I am 100% MISERABLE

I miss my HUSBAND

I want to meet my baby girl so badly.

I want my body back SO badly

I want the waiting game to be over SOO BADLY

So those are the facts for today. I'm having quite a hard time today and last night. Last night I was up all night with really bad heartburn, cramps, nausea, contractions, back labor, the works. Not to mention a complete melt down cause I was so tired and so emotionally drained. I cried like a baby... I keep trying so hard to be okay with not having my hubby home for her birth. I am having such a hard time keeping my head held high and pretending to be brave and be okay with it. But you know what I cant always be strong and last night I let all the emotions I have been holding in since he left out. Which only made me more exhausted. I have such a great support system here and such love and help but sometimes I just need my husband and last night was one of those times. I needed to hear him say it was ok and that he would stay up and watch movies with me till I fell asleep, even though he has to work the next day, I just needed him. Okay so theres my sob mushy gushy for the day. 

 So when I finally got up at 530, cause I could no longer lay in bed, I told my mom and we decided to go to Labor and Delivery. The cramps had to be doing something and since I was having contractions while laying down, something had to be going on... NOT! We got there and it was a total bust. They really could have cared less that I had cramps cause my contractions wernt coming every 3 mins. I'm so frustrated. Then they checked me and informed me that when I have been checked in the past my midwives only checked the outer cervix they never checked the inner cervix and apparently the inner cervix is what matters and well that one is closed. So I'm a 3 on the outer and a 0 on the inner. Talk about taking the little glimmer of hope I had left. So apparently I'm still at the beginning.

I am so emotionally and physically drained. I now understand why women "complain" at the end. I just want to meet my little girl and move on to the next chapter of our lives. At the most I have 10 more days of being pregnant. So I can make it 10 days. Ive made it 300 some days being preggo I can make it 10 more days. Just cross your fingers that my family can deal with me for another 10 days. haha =P

I will leave you all with a 40 week picture. I am deffintly large and so ready.

39 Weeks 4 days Preggo

39 Weeks Pregnant

Less then 1 week LEFT!!!

 

 

 

 

 

Baby's size? According to my midwife she is about 8lbs!!!

 

Stretch marks: We are no longer speaking about stretch marks... Still not speaking about them

 

Sleep: Not much sleep anymore. Too many darn contractions and pains.

 

 

Total weight gain: 31lbs havnt gained a single pound in 4 weeks. I think it has to do with my eating less and having less room and walking. So much walking. But Im not concerned and neither is my midwife. We know she's gaining weight even if Im not. 

Best moment this week: Being able to take a 3 hour nap with my bubba this week. 

 

Movement: Hardly any. She's too big and theres no room left.  

 

Food cravings: I still want some SUSHI. Anybody want to take me?? haha

 

 

Symptoms: Extreme pelvic pain!! A sign of early Labor but it HURTS!

 

 

Belly Button in or out: 100% ab outie

 

Gender: Our little Lady Bug

 

What I miss: Sleeping on my belly. I miss it ALOT 

 

What I'm looking forward to: Finally being done and getting to hold her in my arms.

 

Milestones: Being 3 days away from my due date!!

 

Emotions: OVER IT!

Pregnancy Update

So today I am officially 39 weeks pregnant. One week till my due date! Crazy I know. I can NOT wait to meet her. I am so excited to become a Mommy of 2 little rugrats. I am so excited to give Marcus a sister. I am so excited to be having a little GIRL! Now if she would only get here.

So here's the update on her arrival. After a long weekend of trying everything to get her out nothing worked. Finally Sunday night I started having good contractions. Painful contractions. So painful I was shaking. I thought this had to be the beginning of Labor. I then started getting sharp pains in my belly and knew I should probably go in just incase. So at 900 on Sunday night we went to L&D. I was sent to Triage and got hooked up and right away my contractions started showing up on the monitor and they were good and pretty mountains. I thought yes this is it! While I was looking at that they took my blood pressure and it was pretty High, High for me, and they re took it and it was still High so then they started treating me as if I came in for high blood pressure instead of my contractions. They made me get up and unhook the monitors and give a urine sample and blood test and all sorts of fun stuff. Well by the time I got hooked back up I knew that my contractions were gone. I was so upset. They just died off. They went from 100 to 0 just like that. So when my labs finally came back they told me I didnt have pre eclampise and that they would monitor the blood pressure but that I was going to be going home. They did tell me that my Iron count was SUPER low and I needed Iron supplements because I was anemic. Which explains why I am SO tired. Before I left they checked me and turns out something has been progressing with little miss because I am now 3cm dilated and 60% effaced. I was really bumped to be leaving there with my baby still in my stomach but I was a little happy that something is happening and that soon she will be here.

So there is my baby update for now. I have a Docs appt tomorrow and hopefully I will have progressed more and my blood pressure will be back down to normal. I will keep those of you that read this updated. I mainly update this for my records and so my husband can read it. =) 

Happy Independence Day!!

Yesterday was 4th of July and The Hubbard's had an amazing day. =) We hung out with my family, swam, ate yummy food, decorated cupcakes, kept working at Operation Evict Tenley, and shot off some boom booms before the rain came. Overall it was a great day. I really wish Chris had been here. We call the 4th "our" Holiday because he has been home for almost all of them. This is only his 2nd time not being home for 4th of July in the 9 years we have spent them together. We LOVE 4th of July. So it was rather strange and sad to not have him by myside. But of course my family always tries to make up for it by making our day crazy fun. I am so greatful to my family for everything they have done before Chris left and since Chris has left. I really would be lost without them. Here are some pictures of our 4th of July.

Such a Hard HARD day for Marcus. He slept through all the fireworks. Never even moved. =)

Hope everyone had a Safe and Fun 4th of July!

38 Weeks Pregnant

38 Weeks Pregnant

2 Weeks LEFT!!



Baby's size? She weighs about 6.8lbs and is about 19 and 1/2in long

according to Babycenter =)

 

Stretch marks: We are no longer speaking about stretch marks...

 

Sleep: Nap during the day and sleeping through the night other then waking up every morning at 2am on the dot to go pee.

 

 

Total weight gain: Dunno havnt been weighed yet this week

 

Best moment this week: Finding out I was dilated to 2cm and that her head was very low

 

Movement: Its getting less and less cause she is running out of room in there

 

Food cravings: SUSHI!!! I want some so badly!!!

 

 

Symptoms: CONTRACTIONS!!!!

 

 

Belly Button in or out: Becoming an outie!!!

 

Gender: Our little Lady Bug

 

What I miss: Nothing right at the moment 

 

What I'm looking forward to: MEETING HER!!

 

Milestones: Only being 2 weeks away from my due date (11 days to be exact) 

 

Emotions: Anxious

Pregnancy Update

I try and try to keep everyone updated on whats happening with my pregnancy. But its hard when

1. You have a 28M old

2. Your husband is deployed

3. Your 9M pregnant and Miserable!

So I just wanted to do a quick update here for everyone and for my own records. With Marcus I didnt document everything, and now I regret it. Granted Chris was home and I had no need to fully remember what was happening because I didnt have to give anyone a play by play after. But this time is a little different. I feel as if I leave one single thing out that I am keeping my Husband from knowing everything. I want him to feel as if he were here even though he's 3000 miles away. So here are some updates for this week.

1. I am DILATED!! I am at 2cm (37W 6D)

2. I've been having pretty strong contractions.

3. We are 'moving' in with my Mom and Step Dad tonight until I have the baby so that I dont go into Labor and be all alone with a 28M old.

4. I am SO over being pregnant

Thats about it for right now. The highlight of this week really was being dilated. I had been having some contractions and could feel her head when I moved certain ways and let me tell you the pain that would cause. So I was hoping all my pain would have somewhat paid off and it had. I get to go back to the Docs on the 6th which is 6 days before my due date. So Im really hoping Ive had her or that I have made some major progress.
But this weekend here are our plans to get her out.
1. EAT Pineapple!! And lots of it
2. WALK!!!
3. Eat SPICY Food
4. Bounce on yoga ball maybe go sit on the trampoline.
5. Press on Pressure Points in back of heel
6. Drink Raspberry Tea
All natural remedies that can trigger Labor and I really hope something works. =)

Hilton Head Vacation 2011

We had THE MOST amazing time in HH. Our condo was huge. The song that kept coming to mind was style of the rich and the famous. This place was fit for a KING. It was beautiful. I never wanted to leave. We spent our days at the pool, on the beach, shopping and eating. It was perfect. Marcus had the time of his life. We went with my Mom, Step Dad, Sister Devy and Sister Aurora. So here are some pictures of the trip. There are too many so if you want to see them all go to FB. But these are some of the ones that mean the most to me and memories I will treasure forever. I am so greatful to my mom and stepdad for making this vacation possible and helping with Marcus and spoiling the 9 month preggo.



My mom and Devy




Mom and Bubba playing in the water, more like Marcus playing and my mom chasing him. lol



Marcus and Dev snuggling and watching A Bugs Life

Playing in the sand

Swimming in the OCEAN!!

Bubba, Mama, and Tenley

Aurora and Marcus

Having a blast playing in the fountains.

He took a break so he could eat some gold fish

All worn out from playing

Dev, Don, Mom, and Aurora

Us girls + Marcus before beach pictures

Bubba, me and Aurora (not sure what Aurora was doing)

So those are just some. I have over 200 pictures. I went a little crazy, but I couldnt help it. One I had a new camera, two it was beautiufl and 3 my husband is deployed and I have to capture every moment I can of our sons life and all the new things he's doing and learning. 

37 Weeks Preggo

37 Weeks Pregnant

 

 

 

 

Baby's size? She weighs about 6lbs and is about 19in long

according to Babycenter =)

Stretch marks: Well there are quite a few more. I think everytime she moves I get a new one =(

 

Sleep: Um NONE

 

 

Total weight gain: 31lbs (boo) New goal: Not to go over 35lbs

 

Best moment this week: Seeing her move. She is moving so much and I really enjoy watching my belly move.

 

Movement: Oh she kicks. She kicks that other people can sit and watch her move. lol.

 

Food cravings: None really. Im just happy with whatever Im feed.

 

 

Symptoms: CONTRACTIONS!!!!

 

 

Belly Button in or out: Becoming an outie!!!

 

Gender: Miss Tenley Grace

 

What I miss: Being able to walk without having to stop for a contraction.

 

What I'm looking forward to: MEETING HER!!

 

Milestones: Becoming FULL TERM!! 

 

Emotions: Anxious

35 weeks pregnant!!

35 weeks pregnant

5 weeks LEFT!!!

Baby's size? She weighs about 5lbs and is about 18in long

according to Babycenter =)

Stretch marks: Well the 2 "new" ones really were bug bites and are now gone. But the ones I got from Marcus are starting to get darker. I think it has something to do with being out by the pool all day and maybe getting sunburnt last week.

Sleep: Lots and Lots of sleep (had the flu this weekend)

Total weight gain: 26lbs =( I passed my only 25lb goal. 

Best moment this week: Watching my little boy feel his sister kick for the first time and about having a heart attack when he felt it. He has felt her before. But those times it was when he was snuggling with me and she would kick his side or somewhere. But hes never had his hand on my belly and had her kick him. It was incredible. 

Movement: She's a kicking machine!!

Food cravings: Pizza only cause it has garlic all over it. lol. My fascination with garlic needs to end or people are going to stop hanging out with me cause I will smell like bad garlic. lol.

Symptoms: Umm none really

Belly Button in or out: Still flat

Gender: Still Miss Tenley Grace

What I miss: The thing I miss this week is not being able to bend down and pick up stuff without it being a chore to get back up. lol

What I'm looking forward to: Going to the beach and relaxing this next week

Milestones: n/a

Emotions: Content =)

Congrats to my AWESOME Husband

After over 2 years of trying to get promoted my Husband is FINALLY a SGT! I say it like that because in Dec of 08 he re-enlisted and changed his MOS. He was weeks away from being sent to the board to be promoted. He was unaware that he was about to be sent to the board and once they found out he re-enlisted for a different MOS they took his name off the list. Well once he finished school and got to his new base he realized that it would be a long and hard road to be able to be sent to the board. He took classes and excelled at everything he did and finally after over a year they sent him to the board. After he passed the board it was all on him to get promoted. His points were just so ridiciously high, it was like looking at an impossible task. Well 7 months after going to the board he reached his points and got promoted this past week. So as you can see it has been a long long long road and all his hard work has paid off. So I wanted to do something special to make all his hard work seem like it was worth it. Of course he gets promoted only days after deploying. So it kind of makes spoiling him a little hard. But I did the best I could with his box. It kind of looks like it vomitted up red, white and blue but you get the idea.

Before....

After. =)

So there's Chris's first box. We are calling it his Congrats Box. Its also fitting with 4th of July coming up. haha. Chris will probably kill me for this box but its the only way I could really show just how proud I was of him and all his hard work.