Where is time flying...?

I feel like the World's Worst Mom in one respect - Grace is almost 7 mos old and I'm not getting much on the blog!  I want (desperately) to finish up my baby shower thank you notes, then to get pics, etc. on here.  It WILL happen... someday... (hopefully soon)! :)

Just want to document two things Grace LOVES:  music and going outside.  LOVES, loves, loves... :)  Got to have her sit on my lap while I played the piano today - she hit a few notes herself - woohoo!  Oh and listening to "Jesu, Joy of Man's Desiring" made her babble and "sing" today.

... she is now sitting up on her own (once you help her GET to sitting, of course), continues to talk/make more syllables, etc.  She is very observant and deliberate - it seems she doesn't do random things.  I like to think this is because she is a smarty-pants. ;)

OK anyway, will eventually post info from her calendar, pics, video, etc... no, really! ;)

Things I don't ever want to forget...

• Grace singing herself to sleep
• Grace learning to growl
• Grace loving to cuddle
• Grace loving to go to bed in her crib
• Hearing Grace playing/talking to her mirror and quilt in the middle of the night (never crying, just talking) :)
• Making Grace laugh by saying "apples" and singing "Glak-goon..." - her giggles and laughs are so cute
• Grace laughing when I have to get the "boogie monsters" (aka clear her nose) - honestly, she doesn't cry, she giggles - what a trooper!

Oh how I love this baby. :) 

No, I'm not actually still gestating...;)

Well this summer was an amazing, chaotic, scary, blissful blur. I know I owe much more than will be included here, but rest assured I am not actually 50 wks pregnant, and all is well.

As warned, I was hospitalized at the beginning of week 34 (on a Tues) to do steroid injections to prep Grace's lungs since I was found to officially have pre-eclampsia. I will post more about this some day, but to summarize, by Fri I was incredibly swollen (think very full tick) and began to have pulmonary edema. Fri afternoon I was induced, but within about 2 hrs of that, my breathing was getting worse and worse so I was prepped for a c-section, and at 10:36 or 10:37 p.m. (there is some debate on which) Grace was born.

Grace Audry Dimond was 6 lbs, 4 oz and about 19 1/2 inches long at that time on May 6, 2011.

There is much to tell - I am keeping a calendar of firsts and will post hopefully soon - but to summarize (again), we are the luckiest parents I think! This little girl is the most sweet, mellow, beautiful baby we could have ever dreamed of. Between her complexion and ears (clearly Blake's) and nose (mine) there is no question she is uniquely and magnificently ours.

She will be 16 wks old tomorrow. I am embarrassed in a way that it took me so long to officially document our wonder baby's arrival here, but I truly have struggled with accepting the early end of the pregnancy, how sick I was, and that I had a preemie/NICU baby so just had to process some things for a while. I will say, though, this whole experience strengthened my knowledge that Heavenly Father knows us, loves us, will only give us challenges we can handle with His help, and will place people in our lives at seemingly insignificant times that will help us at the exact, precise moment we desperately need them. I'll expand on that later, too.

I am amazed and thankful for our little Skooch/Peanut/Grace/Gracie Lou. It may be a cliche, but how true to say I never quite expected or knew just how much I would love my own baby, and how amazing it would be.

I have to say it, in the words of Ren and Stimpy, "happy, happy, joy, joy!!!"

More (including pics, video, etc.) to come. :)

Week 31 - 33 (oops)

OK OK, it is absolutely horrible to go this long without posting.  Poor Gracie's story is missing a bit here!!!

The past few weeks have been completely exhausting - primarily because we've been involved with assisting with measles investigations.  Folks from my staff may wonder why I'm whining about this given they're really the ones doing the work - hopefully my contributions (however small) are helpful!  Anyway trust me when I say an incredible amount of work from all of my peeps has gone into this response, and it's just a piece of what has gone on statewide between local health departments, schools, clinicians, etc... Wow.  If you ever wonder "what does public health do for me"? give me a call - there are amazingly dedicated people who work very hard to help those who are sick and prevent illness in others.  While I am zonked, I certainly love my job and the opportunity to work with these folks!

ANYWAY - on a fun note, I had my first Utah baby shower - family and friends - on Sat April 16 at Danielle's (my sis-in-law's) house.  My Mom and Genevieve came into town and stayed with us, which meant Blake and I really cracked down in the week or two before to finish two BIG projects: finishing the basement and finishing the office/guestroom remodel.  We did it though, which gave us plenty of room/options for company! :)  The party was so great - the hostesses worked really hard to make things so lovely.  Again, people were incredibly generous, and we continue to see that Grace is one loved little baby!!! :)  I need to get my thank you notes out - planning to work on that this weekend!!!

Weeks 29 and 30

Soooo much to share!!!  Whoa.  Have I mentioned time is going by SOOO fast???  Holy cow.

So - during week 29, I had two dr appointments - one with Dr. Silver where I had an ultrasound, and one for a fetal echocardiagram.  Everything is great - no detected problems with anything!  Grace is measuring just a little big but Dr. Silver is very happy.  I will start having twice weekly non-stress tests starting week 32 (VERY SOON!)

Here are pics from the ultrasound - done March 29 - she was measuring about 3 lbs 4 oz and I know has grown quite a bit since! :)

 ...profile pics...

... pics of her face - I don' t think it's very easy to know what she looks like from these, though...

... and her foot and one more profile - she is grabbing her umbilical cord here.

Week 28 - LOTS to share!!! :)

Holy cow - first of all, I get to label this 3rd trimester.  Crazy!!!

This week went by FAST (again)!  I'm feeling pretty good though my heartburn is back and I have to be REALLY careful about it or I'm miserable.  Other than that, I'm getting tired pretty quickly again and getting swelling in my feet and hands (especially if I don't walk around).  That is totally ok though!  I've been feeling kind of crummy today - really tired and hot - again I think that is just fine.  Yesterday I think Grace found a spot to rest that was great for her and terribly painful for me - I had one spot at the bottom of my belly that HURT - ouch.  But this morning it was just fine!  

Grace kicks and moves a LOT.  It's pretty cool.  I'm now having trouble remembering when I DIDN'T feel her kicking throughout the day and evening. :)  Sometimes those little kicks are kind of shocking!

Week 27 - or - where is the time flying to????

D'oh!  Week 27 is almost over - and still no post (!)  I can't believe I forgot to post about my appt last Tues!

Week 26

I was thinking this morning about the fact that last year, we were waiting for our appointment with Dr. Heiner to figure out what we needed to do to start our family - now we are finishing a nursery, looking forward to baby showers, about to start classes on parenting and labor and delivery, etc.  Quite a change after several disappointments and years of hoping for our family to start! 

I think I started reflecting on this because a very dear friend of ours is going through a miscarriage - heartbreaking.  I think it is normal that once you start getting excited and have your due date in mind, you start thinking through the next months, wondering what you will look like, wondering if it will be a boy or a girl, thinking of the season it will be, etc.and getting VERY excited - then if something happens it's just a horrible loss.  My prayers are with her and I hope she will not be afraid and will get to start her family soon.

I read a paragraph that I keep reflecting on - it is especially salient when you think about the challenges some of us face in our baby hopes:

"Having babies may be as natural as the sun rising in the east, but it's still a miracle every time it happens.  If you feel anxious at times, it's just your humility acknowledging that having a dream come true is a blessing, not a right.  And when yours does come true, you will appreciate it that much more."  Vicki Iovine ~ The Girlfriends' Guide to Pregnancy

OK - week 26 - I'm feeling better as long as I take Claritin D and benadryl - hate to do that daily, but it sure helps!  Blood sugars have been good except for today - I may have to change my pump site - that's my only guess as to what the heck is going on.  Gracie is kicking a LOT now - sometimes it feels like a Mexican jumping bean - you can sometimes see my clothes move the kicks are so strong!  Blake has been working really hard to assemble furniture we bought at Ikea for the nursery - he is finishing the dresser now.  I'll post pictures from the room transformation soon. :)  Oh - my stretch marks are getting worse and my stomach is getting itchy!!!  Not too bad, though.

Quick appointment updates...

Thurs night I had my LAST "NuMom2B" study appointment until Grace is born - weird!  Anyway, Blake came with me, and we got to have an ultrasound to look at her measurements - for the most part, she measured in the 60-70th percentiles for her gestational age.  She is estimated to weigh 2 lbs right now - 77th percentile.  My amniotic fluid index was 19 cm (10-24 cm is ideal) so all good!  I'd been feeling quite uncomfortable so it was kind of funny to see her head was resting squarely on my cervix - ouch - that could be contributing!  She was wiggly like always - the tech was trying to show us her profile but I don't think Gracie liked that much - she kept turning away - but from what we saw for a moment, cute. :)

Fri I had an appointment with Dr. Jim (Chamberlain) - I think I'm going to have to refer to him as "Dr. Jim" since I'll be taking Grace to his wife, Dr. Michelle Chamberlain (will likely call her "Dr. Michelle") :) - anyway, my HbA1C is 5.7 again, which is just great!  We made a few adjustments but nothing major - he checked my feet and they're just fine.

So things continue to tick along pretty well.

Week 24/25...

Oops!  OK - week 24 got away from me.  Or I simply chose not to include it subconsciously - it was pretty rough in some regards.  So... though it will make this long, I'm going to include info on both weeks!

Week 23

Well, time keeps going by pretty quickly which has some good and bad to it I guess - good that we keep getting closer to Grace's arrival, and that is what I'll focus on!

Week 22 and some pics :)

Week 22 has been good - flying by still, which is kind of crazy!

Week 21 :)

I have to say these weeks are going pretty darn fast!

Week 20

Week 20 is over tonight - time is flying!!!  Kind of nice, but kind of scary, too!

Pregnancy can be scary...

Yesterday, during day 2 of a conference/training I'd helped a bit with, I started spotting - and I had some cramping.  I started to tear up, even though it's the second time it's happened, it wasn't bad, and I was pretty sure it would be no big deal!

I called Sam, one of the nurse midwives at Dr. Silver's office - she asked if I'd had a stressful day (yes) and advised me to go home, take a bath, drink lots of water, and put my feet up.  So -  I left the the training and did so.  I didn't realize how tired I was until I did that!  I guess I have more limits at the moment which makes me a little sad - luckily, though, my boss, co-workers, staff, friends, and family are incredibly understanding and supportive.

Anyway - it's kind of crazy how alarmed I get even though it's probably fine!  Sam said around this time in pregnancy, as the uterus expands, the placenta can migrate and slough some cells which causes spotting.  I'm sure that explains it, but am going to try to take it easy this weekend - especially since I'm going to a conference next week so will have a ~15 hr day (between meetings and travel) next Fri.

I think I get so worried because of my experiences in the past... ( positive pregnancy tests which didn't work out) - spotting was not good then...

I'm looking forward to distinct kicking which will be reassuring I think!  Until then, thank heavens for persistent nausea and round ligament pain...! :)

Week 19 and ultrasound pics!

I know it's most exciting to see the pictures of the baby, but better include some info on week 19 first!

It's a....

GIRL!!! :)

We have lots more to add - pictures, video, stories... but I'm kind of swamped and need to get some work done - so will aim to add tomorrow (before week 20!)

Grace Audry Dimond - nice name, huh??? :)

Week 18

Week 18 went by REALLY fast, despite the fact it included a 4 day weekend!

Week 17 - good stuff... :)

Week 17 has been a little weird for me.  On the good side, my HbA1C on Mon was 5.8 - not as great as 5.4 but really anything under 6.0 is pretty awesome.  Also on the good side, I finally realized my feet have gone up a size and bought a few pairs of bigger shoes that are helping my bad foot to not cramp as badly (duh!)  

Week 16 - HAPPY NEW YEAR!!! :)

Wow - 2010 flew by!  Welcome 2011!

I hope everyone's Christmas was great - this week went by super fast - we went to Benihana (our annual New Year's Eve tradition) and watched the ball drop in NYC, then lit/watched fireworks at midnight here.  Blake was able to get one of the last fountains at Smith's - it made it pretty fun! :)