Liam Cayde

Oh my goodness...The past three and a half weeks have been some of the craziest and hardest days of my life. Little Liam got a little overzealous and tried to come visit us 7 weeks early. We have been so blessed and so lucky that he was able to stay in utero for as long as he did, and come to us so healthy. I've wanted to write down this story for quite some time, but I barely had a moment to breathe amongst all this - let alone write a blog post. But now that he is home and I can finally sit down I actually have a minute to write down my thoughts and Liam's little tale.. Its excessively long...it does span out over a whole week after all.

August 29th is pretty much one of the only time marks I can remember from all this. It was a typical Wednesday, nothing too special except for the fact that I had my 33 week doctors appointment for Liam. This time we were going to do a sonogram to make sure that little boy was head down and that we weren't needing to schedule a c-section. I was a little nervous because of this... I did NOT want a c-section. I was pretty sure his little bottom was what was sticking me in the ribs all the time, and that he was head down because I always felt his hiccups,the ones that he got daily, low in my pelvis...But you can never be too sure. It would be just my luck for him to have been head up. Long story short she did the sono and his head was nice and low in my pelvis... I was so relieved. Shane's mother, Denise, was in town and heading out that day - she was so happy she got to be here for the appointment. After, we had lunch and then I took her to the airport to head back to Texas. Then I headed home and started on a few little projects until Shane got home. It was 4pm and we were both pretty exhausted from the previous week and Shane just starting school, so we took a nap until it was time for work. 5pm rolls around- Shane headed up to get the girls, And I told him I would be up in a second.. Moments after he left I was a little shocked when I thought I peed my pants...Oh the woes of pregnancy.. But I KNEW I didn't pee..what the heck was this. I thought maybe it was just some crazy pregnancy thing that I would of course be googling later. But I was in a hurry, so ignored it for the moment, quickly changed and headed up to get the girls...

One of the girls asked to use the restroom, so I took her... while I was waiting by the door I realized I was getting soaked...At that moment I knew exactly what was going on, but still slightly in denial I ran into one of the stalls just to double check that I wasn't somehow spontaneous peeing my self with no control. Once I had somewhat taken in what was going on I went and poked my head through the door where Shane and all the girls were... "Shane!" I called his name..I was trying to stay calm and not alert all the girls. Of course he didn't hear me so I had to yell louder. Finally he looked over after some of the girls told him I was calling him from the door... I motioned him over. Apparently when he saw this, having no idea of anything that had transpired  and completely joking, he said "it's go time!" ...well It really was go time.

 I pulled him into one of the stalls and said "LOOK...This is not PEE!" Seriously this whole time I thought I was a little bit crazy. We came back to the house and Shane immediately jumped on google (haha...oh google) to see what Amniotic fluid was like and instructed me to walk around and see if it kept leaking.. (of course it was going to, but in moments like this you sometimes have false hope) So as I'm walking around with fluid dripping down my legs Shane is reading to me "it is clear and  odorless ".. umm.. check and check. Of course I didn't have the doctor's number on hand, so I told him to call Kelly. Kelly is my cousin who lives near by and who referred me to the OBGYN I was using. So he calls Kelly as he tells me to lay down to keep the fluid from leaking out... (our logic in the moment was just ...a little lost.) Kelly answers, "hey" I can hear her on the other end... " Hey kelly..."  Shane responds.. "uh oh, Whats wrong" She knew the second she heard Shane's voice and not mine that something wasn't right. He explained to her that we needed the doctors number and didn't answer her question "Shane, Whats wrong" Then he told her I was leaking fluid. "Go to the hospital, Her water broke... Don't call..just go"

We hung up and I just lost it. It finally hit me that My water did indeed break, and I was terrified for our son. Shane knelt down beside me and told me he was going to give me a blessing. I couldn't tell you one word that It said but afterwards I felt much more at peace and was finally able to think straight.

Or maybe It went blessing and then calling kelly? because I remember after the blessing knowing that going to the hospital was the right decision and that I wasn't just crazy..this was actually my water.

So, Of course my hospital bag was only halfway packed... I didn't think I needed It for AT LEAST
4 more weeks, and I had taken September 5th and 6th off of work to finalize all the things we needed to get done before the baby came.
Shane was running around trying to finish packing, when I told him it didn't matter and that we needed to leave. I grabbed a towel for the ride, and we headed out the door. We called our parents on the way to the hospital to let them know...just incase we had a baby that night. Shane's mom was in Colorado, waiting for her next flight - She didn't believe Shane. She thought it was a joke. Finally she realized we were serious and started on booking a return flight to Utah.

So, of course the parking lot is packed - Shane dropped me off at the front door. Well labor and delivery is behind a locked door and you need the receptionist to open it for you...of course ...the one and single time I needed to speak to the receptionist there was a line, and she was on the phone.

Shane came in before it was my turn to talk to her, and we both just had to laugh. I was
standing in a line, waiting to tell the receptionist my water broke. the irony.

She let us in, where I went to the next reception area..."my water broke".

Totally taking their sweet time got the paperwork...we filled it out, no one was in hurry at all.
They admitted me to triage and instructed me to put on a gown..then we waited... haha. the nurse came in and asked me a million unrelated questions for about 30 minutes. Finally the resident came in to check me... I was only 1 cm and not effaced at all. they had to run a test and make sure it was really amniotic fluid...reallyyyyy? They told me If the test came back positive that we would not be leaving the hospital and I would be admitted.

well. Minutes later, there I was in labor and delivery hooked up to belly monitors, being poked and prodded like crazy, I was given a catheter for a urine sample, an IV, and a shot for steroids for his lungs and a pill to stop uterine contractions all in about 10 minutes time  all while being over loaded with information from a few different doctors... of course I wasn't listening...How could I?

I just needed a SECOND! we both did, it was very overwhelming.
They told me that if he came they wouldn't do anything more to stop him, but if he didn't I would be there until at least 34 weeks - which luckily for me was only another week. I stayed in labor and delivery all night as they watched my "contractions" They didn't like the "irritability" that my uterus was showing on the monitor

I kept having mini contractions all night but nothing painful - I don't remember what time of day it was but the next day, Thursday, sometime they took me up to...oh I don't know what its called, where you go usually after you have your baby. I got a room... and to make a very long story short, there I sat..all week haha.

Being in the hospital for a week was probably one of the most frustrating things, simply because every time I talked to someone they told me something completely different. "We will take you on Sunday", "we will take you monday",  "you can walk around", "no you cant walk around"..everything was jumbled. Well, It  was labor day weekend and m doctor was of course on vacation. She told me we would shoot for Wednesday (when she got back - convenient)

I was permitted one wheelchair ride a day -the highlight of my day. So, Shane and I would drag them out as long as possible and venture off to parts of the hospital that for sure felt like we weren't supposed to be in. Most of the time when he could be there, he would just cuddle up in my hospital bed with me and we would just relax and talk or watch a little TV. We went through a lot that week, but I think our relationship about double in strength

Well, Tuesday night finally rolls around - The nurses informed me that between 8-10 pm they would take me down to labor and delivery and start cervadel to start opening my cervix.... 10 pm came and went, about 11 pm my new nurse came in and told me around midnight they would take me down - that labor and delivery was SWAMPED. Midnight came and went....nothing. 1, 2, 3...finally at exactly 3:50 am nurses came to my room and said "labor and delivery is ready for you"...oh cool thanks.

I was wheeled down and given a room, (labor and delivery was as quite and stagnant looking as could be though..but remember they were "swamped") they checked me - I was 4 cm dilated and 100% effaced and he was at negative 1 station. Because I was already dilating  that meant I didn't need cervadil and that I was getting exactly what I didn't want- hooked up to pitocin right away .  They started me off with pitocin at a level 4...nothing. about every 30 minutes the nurse came back in and upped the machine up another 4. 2 hours later my pitocin was up to 16 and I still wasn't contracting. About 6 am (or so... my times are all screwed up) the nurse brought the resident in to check me. She told me that there was possibly part of the bag in front of my baby's head. The resident checked me again and agreed with the nurse that there was water in front of his head and she wanted to break it. Literally, a minute later I was contracting. The contractions were soon only minutes apart and I was having to work through them - Thinking this was only the beginning of what labor felt like and knowing my doctor wanted me to get an epidural anyways I asked the nurse to send the anesthesiologist in.. thinking it would take him a while to arrive. Minutes later he was in the room - and it was a good thing too because my contractions were booming.  I was really having to breath through it.

I told them I reallllllly need to use the bathroom before he gave me the epidural. They told me no, if i did that I would end up having a baby on the toilet...I told them. "you JUST checked me. I'm a 4, I really need to use the bathroom." They insisted that I couldn't use the restroom. So...the anesthesiologist instructed me to lay down on my side and curl up in a ball... through my contractions...haha. Shane came to my side and held my hand, and I just remember breathing through the pain and squeezing his hands with my eyes closed tight. After the doctor left the nurse check me again.. I was a 9 and ready to push any minute...okay so they were right, I didn't need to use the bathroom. I waited there about 20 minutes for the epidural to take effect- and then we just hung out for a bit because my doctor wasn't in yet..

Because Liam was coming so early they wanted him to go straight to NICU - This meant I would deliver in the Operating Room because it had a pass through window to the NICU. This way he would be assessed immediately. Finally they wheeled me down the hall and into this cluttered stark white room.. Then I waited some more because my doctor still was not in yet. About 20 minutes later my doctor walks in. She had tons of tools ready because of my uterine didelphys - she actually had to do a lot of snipping and sewing before I even began to push. Finally she looked at me and they instructed me on what to do, they told Shane every time I had a contraction to hold my leg for me. Well, 3 pushes later at 8:21 am out came a tiny gorgeous baby boy. - which now that I think about it I didn't even double check that he was a boy. The image is frozen in my mind- his arms flailing in the air, pink as could be and crying at the top of this lungs. I reached out and touched his little head with the tip of my fingers before they whisked him away through the window  - he was gone and the room was quite again. It was the best and worst moment of my life all at the same time.

My doctor finished stitching me up and they wheeled me back into the labor and delivery room. "Do you need anything?" they asked me... "just to see my baby" I told them.

Nurses came in and out and it was in the few minutes we were alone that Shane and I decided his name would be Liam Cayde Countryman

Shane went to see Liam, and brought me back pictures to see.
I'm not sure what time it was but they finally told me I could go see him- They wheeled me down and from across the room I could see this tiny little baby, under heat lamps and hooked up to monitors and wires. I couldn't get closer than probably a foot or two because of the bed I was in. I just touched his little toes and took pictures. They only let me stay about 10 minutes until I was taken back to my original room up stairs. I had to wait for my legs to come back before they would let me down to see him again.  - which took forever.

The next day they finally let me hold him. He felt so little- but he was perfect. We were so blessed because he was breathing on his own.

People have told me over and over again how lucky I am and was to have such a short labor, that I had it "easy".. I sat in the hospital for a week, felt labor up to a 9, and had my baby whisked away from me before I even met him. I missed out on so much time with him in his first 10 days, and no one can tell you what it feels like to leave the hospital without your child. Yes, we were so very blessed that I was able to keep him in for the extra week that I did, That I was able to take in two doses of the steroid for his lungs, and that he was as healthy as he was..And I was blessed to have quick labor and to be able to deliver vaginally... I've counted my blessing and still continue to count them daily and I know that they are plentiful. But let me tell you and I think all of the moms out there understand when I say that I would have gone through a 12 hr.. 24, 48 hour labor if needed in turn for him not being taken away and poked and prodded with needles and IVs just moments after birth, and to have been able to hold my baby and have that moment of your child being handed to you for the first time as hes crying for the first time... literally I do would anything.

My labor definitely wasn't what I had planned at all. I wanted to walk, and use the tub and a birthing balls. But I still had a really great experience in the end. I wouldn't change it because it got me a healthy little boy.

Liam was in the NICU for 10 days, He came home weighing 4 pounds 13 oz...and now weighs an incredible 6 pounds. He is growing like a weed right before our eyes and becomes chunkier and chunkier every single day...He is such a good boy and already has so many quirks about him. he is 4 weeks today...and will be a month in just two days...where has the time gone?

What I did to keep my self occupied- Ate, and painted my nails

one of our walks

Dinner!

 

Waiting for the doctors to come get me

Heart rate

Just told her I was ready to push

 

Ready to go...

 

 

 

 Liam Cayde - About an hr or so after birth
4 lbs 10 oz, 18 inches
born at 8:21 am

 

will post more photos later...

Doctor News!

May has been such an exciting month! We have learned so much about myself and our baby!

This last month has been filled with doctors appointments. May 2nd was the first of them. Just a week before that I had gone and had my MRI done -I was at my OBGYNS office to find out the results and just for a normal monthly appointment. We were so excited because I was 16 weeks, and though this was still early, we were hoping our doctor would want to take a look at my crazy wacked out body so that we would "just so happen" to find out the babies gender. Well, we left disappointed. My doctor did nothing but read me my MRI results and give me a good feelskie.  - super

But we were able to find out good news. They were able to get a good look at my uterus during the MRI and determined that I have uterus didelphys. Just a bunch of mumbo jumbo to most of you I'm sure. So, pretty much this means that when I was growing as a fetus my uterus did not fuse completely together (it starts as two separate sides) and because of that my uterus is completely separted by a septum which gives me "two" uteri.  It's like two half uteri pretty much side by side. This septum that divides my uterus also divides my cervix - giving me two of those as well. Crazy sounding I know.  What this means is pretty much the same as if I had a bicornuate uterus. Women who have either typically have fertility problems, and are higher risk for miscarrages in the second trimester, Preterm labor, uterian rupture, and have more pain associated with pregnancy and delivery due to more stretching during growth and dilation... sounds fun doesn't it? But we have been so blessed and just plain lucky - other than getting pains quite often I have been relatively symptom free and the baby is growing healthy and strong.  On another high note, the MRI revealed that I have two healthy working kidneys that are totally normal and in the correct location - so definitely another blessing!

Well, like I said we left that doctors appointment bummed out but I knew that next week I had an ultrasound scheduled with the specialists. So I figured I could be patient and wait a few more days! May 7th finally rolled around and Shane and I were just so ecstatic. We arrived for our appointment anxious. I was scheduled for my fetal well-being appointment at 17 weeks - as requested by my obgyn. So were waiting, and waiting... I'm sure it was only 10 minutes but I was being super impatient. I wasn't even sure if they would tell us ( I know some doctors are stingy about not telling before 18-20 weeks) So finally "Whitney!" They called my name and our ultasound tech showed us our room. Our energy was running so high with excitement in the hopes that they would be willing and able to tell us the gender.
"So, what is your appointment for today"
"fetal well being"
"nu uh, NOPE, I'm not doing that.. NOT at 17 weeks"
"....." - I'm sure my mouth hit the floor. I couldn't believe the audacity of this woman.  " Well, that's what my doctor had me schedule this appointment for- They wanted to get get me in because of my uterus"
"Nope, 17 weeks is just too early. That's ridiculous, I'll do some but not all"
Our excitement plumetted and hit the floor.... Honestly, who says that? Aren't you a tech... I didn't order this just because I felt like it, a doctor did.
Anyways, to say the least the whole first half of the appointment I was pretty bitter and couldn't even enjoy seeing our baby up on the screen.
 She rushed around taking measurements, barely mentioning or taking time to tell us what we were looking at.
But then she said "so, do you know the sex?"
"NO!!"
"Would you like to find out"
"YES!!"

Our excitement was back! Shane came over to my side as she rolled the probe around on my belly. I swear I had already seen a little boy part when she showed us the leg, but I didn't dare say that to this tech.... waiting.. waiting.. waiting, She jostled around a lot and finally steadied our view. On the screen she typed out... leg, leg, bottom.... labeling all the body parts.. .and then came I'M A BOY!!

Even with her hostility and the bitterness at the beginning of the appointment, It was still such a fun moment to share with Shane. We finally could stop calling this baby "it" ( I felt so guilty calling him "it") and say HE! We were so excited! Just after, she stepped out and we got to share a few happy moments together talking about our SON!

We were soo excited to tell our families, but we wanted to tell them all together and in a special way. If we lived closer I would have done a fun party or something, but with the distance this is obviously impossible... soooo we came up with a little video. We sent cards out inviting them to join us online at a specific time and date. Then we posted this...

I'm sure no one thought it was half as funny as Shane and I did. But we had so much fun making it - so that's all that matters.

We have done so much in the past two weeks since we found out we were having a little boy! We almost have his nursery complete. Minus a crib and rocker.. Pictures just need to be hung and a little organization. I even have fabric on its way to make his bedding! YAY!

I had been searching for a while and came across this cute website. I started searching for fabric knowing that the bedding was just too expensive for us to buy and found the exact fabric of the bedding I was trying to replicate. I am stoked! By making it I will save us about $200. Score!!

This is what my end product will HOPEFULLY look simular to!

Shane and I finally planted our little garden yesterday! We had been growing sprouts indoors for the past 4 or 5 weeks. We have peppers, cucumbers, tomatoes, squash, green beans, watermelons, cantelope, strawberries.. and a few more that I can't remember off the top of my head. We spents hours yesterday sifting the soil, adding fertilizer and planting... it took a long time but it was a lot of fun. Planting with the hubby... we are so lame! - IF and when these babies start to grow...I will have to post a picture. Cross your fingers the bugs and field mice don't eat them all up.

Speaking of which... oh...my...goodness. Today was the SECOND time a little field mouse has run STRAIGHT into the home (while we were working). We like to leave the door open with the beautiful weather and last week a little mouse ran right in through the front door. Man, the girls went crazy. Shane was a champ though. He faced his phobia and caught the dang thing... (he even admitted it was a little cute)but goodness... we thought SURELY...there is NO WAY that a mouse would run in again. Low and behold, this Sunday as we were enjoying the day with the girls...in runs a tiny little field mouse. Seriously, our luck. Never in Texas would this happen... TWICE

Our boy is definitely a product of his father and moving constantly. Shane has even been able to feel a few good kicks in the last few weeks! Every time he feels him  he gasps "oh my gosh, I felt him!" It is so cute and just so awesome to feel him moving around in there!

Excited!

Well, let me tell you - I am just so excited! It seems like so much has gone on in our little world in just the past few days! Now, If only my poor pregnant brain can remember all of it!

Shane and I had discussed a while ago about getting a fetal doppler - For those of you that might not be aware, this is the device that the doctors use to listen to the heart beat.  You can rent the better hospital grade ones from lots of places online, or you can also buy ones (that of course aren't as "good") for about the same price as renting one! So, Being the crazy lady that I am... we got one :) We ordered it late Friday night and got it mid day Monday!! We were so excited to receive it so quickly and right away I went to town listening to our baby's little heart. It is so fun - haha who would guess listening to a "thumpthump thumpthump thumpthump" could be so entertaining.

The girls we are "home parents" to are just so curious and interested in the baby -  "What's going on with the baby today?". They ask hourly. Every Monday night we have "spiritual night" or better known as FHE. We have a time we call family business where anyone can share exciting news for the week or  just tell what is going on with them. So, I asked them if they would all like to hear the babies heartbeat and they all went crazy! You would have thought I told them I was in labor they were so excited!  Most of them have never had the opportunity to hear that before - so they were just in awe! Heck, I've heard it a million times by now and I am still in awe!

We are so happy we got our little doppler - now we can have it for all our babies to come. Talk about bang for your buck!

Yep, That's our babies heartbeat...insanity!

Alsoooo, We got a stroller this week! I know, I know - What "mom-like" news! Isn't it hilarious that these are the kind of things that make me excited - kitchen items and baby items....one happy lady!
Shane and I have been looking for some time at strollers - browsing everywhere we go pretty much. We have looked so many places and I was getting pretty bummed out because for a basic, heavy, ugly stroller it's always in the $300  range. I was bummed we would have to spend so much for something we didn't really even care for. So we were at BuyBuy Baby on Saturday night  (this is what we do with our Saturday nights....haha) looking at the usual  - cribs and strollers. There were very few options that came with a car seat or even looked compatible with an infant. So we looked at what we thought were our options and found a Gracco one that we like "best". It was ugly- but not the ugliest, and weighted around 25 lbs rather than the standard 30-40 lbs. Out of all the places we looked, this was our best bet yet.  I was pretty excited that we had even found one that was halfway decent. We had a man who was working that was so helpful and oddly excited about showing us strollers, who started boggling our minds with all the options we never knew we had. He showed us that these strollers, that we thought wouldn't work for a newborn, actual could work for us. I was half way listening to him, because of course this meant the price was sky rocketing by the second to a number we could never reach...We of course liked these strollers way more. We were crunching numbers, thinking of coupons we had- What could we do to get this ever so awesome stroller and car seat??

Well, Sunday night Shane was looking online at reviews, and top baby strollers online - and the one we were in love with, was on there. So, after reading reviews and watching videos- I was convinced...this man wasn't just oddly excited about strollers - It was actually a really great stroller and a lot of other people were crazy about it too. To our great pleasure...we found this stroller and car seat as a travel system package on amazon for $150 less than it was in the store (not to mention no tax and free shipping) - this put it right back in the range of all the other strollers we were looking at. ...SO..... I BOUGHT ITTTTTTTT! This stroller is seriously amazing - So compact. Only FIFTEEN POUNDS, you can fold it up and carry it with literally one hand and it has super good safety ratings. I am STOKED.  It is on its way to us, and hopefully will get here sometime next week - then I can drive it around my house and test it out haha! Luckily, It's just all black and not some hideous pattern like all the others. Yes, of course there are better strollers out there - but for us this was untouchable and like the holy grail of strollers

Here it is, in all its glory!!!

Still no crib or glider - but we are working on them. Glider will come next, and crib last. We figure we won't use it until the baby is a few months old anyways which just gives us more time to save up.

And probably the most exciting news of all... I am starting to feel the baby MOVE!  Let me tell you, it is so amazing and fascinating. Last week, I would feel little flutters and I was super confused. I thought It was the baby. I knew it wasn't my body and I had never felt this before, so what else could it be? Well, I still wasn't convinced. But this week, probably just with in the last 2 days or so, the movements have become much more noticeable and much stronger. They are still not huge kicks, of course, but definitely undeniably the baby. It is just crazy. I can put my hand on my belly and literally my hand will feel the movement as well as my stomach. I have even had a few "bulges". My stomach will get really hard - and literally a little spot will poke out for just a few seconds and then slowly sink back in.

Tomorrow we head to the doctor - This is the first time I will actually be meeting my doctor. She has been on maternity leave so I haven't been able to see her yet, but finally she is back and we are crossing our fingers that she will do an ultrasound and we will get to see if we are having a boy or girl! I have another appointment with ultrasound specialists on the 7th for other reasons, but hopefully if I can't convince my doctor to do an ultrasound and tell us we will be able to find out on Monday! Cross your fingers the doctors aren't stingy and will look for us!!!!

Our family just recently discovered Cherie and Cory(my brother and sister-in-law) will be adding another girl to the mix! YAYY! So it will be fun to know what little baby we will be adding next!

Shannon, Shane's sister will be coming up at the end of the month - I am definitely looking forward to having a sister here to do fun baby things with!

This is a picture of me from last week - For those in Texas who are curious. I'm just barley starting to show. I mostly just look like I had a huge lunch :/

one year later....

Oh my, it has literally been almost a year since I last posted. Every time I wanted to blog I just felt so behind that there was no possible way to recap all of it - and there is not. So we will just talk about the very most important parts!

I'm sure all of you know by now that Shane and I moved to Utah! We moved in July of  last year and we absolutely love it. It is so beautiful here and the opportunities for fun are endless. The weather is beautiful and you can actually be outside for more than 30 seconds without breaking out into a full sweat. We live in West Jordan and work at West Ridge Academy. It's a residential treatment center for youth. We are "mother" and "father" to a range of girls. They are punks, but we love them. We do miss Texas though, and we miss our families - But Utah is a great place to be missing them from.

Our ONE YEAR has come and gone - haha I think the last entry I posted it wasn't even our 3 month mark yet. So, needless to say, a lot has gone on as well as gone un-mentioned - sadly. We have had a blast though. Our first year was a breeze and we loved every minute of it together. We're out here, and all we really have is each other. My brother lives an hour away and our schedules don't coincide to often, so we don't see them much. Our cousin lives about 40 minutes away and their schedules don't really work with ours too often either. We go to church where we work - so there are no adults other than us and the other staff that work here... so really... all we have had for the past 9 months- is each other. And it has just been the best thing. We can make fun out of any situation we are in, as long as we have the other by our side. We have learned so much and grown so strong - It has really just been such a blessing. We wake up every day knowing we chose the right person to spend eternity with.

On our anniversary we didn't do much unfortunately. Money isn't necessarily growing on trees around here, but we still had a great time. We spent the night in a hotel in Salt lake city and just ordered a pizza to our hotel room haha. The next day we drove out to park city and just kind of drove around. We looked at all the homes out there and drove around main street - which is so interesting by the way. Just esthetically it is rather absurd, which makes it neat. We found and little burger place out there and had lunch- which was SOOO yummy by the way - wish I could remember the dang name of it. After that we just headed home, when we got here Shane surprised me with the awesome cake ball maker I had my eye on. He is so thoughtful. But all in all we just enjoyed spending the day together.

So the most exciting news as of late... drum roll pleaseeeeeee.... This eggo is preggo. Yep, were pregnant and we are super excited! I told Shane just a few days before our Anniversary. I wanted to wait until that day but, I just couldn't wait any longer - I had already known and kept quite for too long. When we were first married, we originally wanted to wait a few years, until he was at least into dental school and we got things a little more settled, but sometimes life doesn't always go how you think, but it goes even better. We were getting more and more baby hungry every month that passed by and I kept telling my self we need to wait, we don't have enough money, Shane's still in school, we haven't been married long enough... we had a million reasons to wait. Shane was on board and so ready to be a dad, I was the one that needed convincing. We started to pray about it, and after a few months we just knew. And a few months later, I had the best news to share. We had been trying so I was testing everyday that week (with little cheapie strips I had bought off line) and then one day, as I was about to throw yet another negative strip out...I glanced at it again and saw the faintest line. I seriously thought I was making it up. I was in shock and so happy. I had seen only one line on these things for so long, I was amazed that they DID actually have two lines that could appear. haha. It was very surreal. But I bit my tongue and kept my mouth shut. I didn't want to just hand Shane the test - I wanted to tell him in a special way and it was so faint at this point I didn't even know if he would believe it.  So I waited and waited, thought and thought. The idea finally came to me.  One day when he was at school I went out to complete the task. I found a stretch of road that had 4 relatively close walk way bridges over Bangeter highway - you know where people always write in cups? Welcome back elder, or will you marry me - cleaver fun things like that? Well. I picked him up from school and told him we were going somewhere special. We drove down Bangeter - "Whats that?" We were at a stop light and I pointed to the big writing on the bridge. It read in big red cup letters "SHANE...."  "HEY, it says my name?" I told him that was weird and that someone must have the same name as him. He knew I was lying. We continued to drive and we came to the next bridge "Happy 1 year". He read it aloud and said thank you- He thought that was the end and I was just celebrating our first anniversary. Again, We continued our drive. The next sign said "Guess what..." He continued to repeat the phrases trying to figure out what it could be.. Shane, happy one year... guess what?... over and over. Finally we reached our last bridge, we were turning on this next road to reach our final ending place. He squinted his eyes to try to read what the next sign said so far ahead "I'm pregnant"? He read it questionably."Whatt? no youre not..." He looked at me. "Yes, I am." He immediately lost it. He was so happy and over joyed. We had to pull over so we didn't wreck. It was seriously the best reaction I could have ever hoped for. This was the happiest I had ever seen him. I caught it all on my camera phone, but cut off on accident right after I told him...dang it. I would post it - But I don't think he would be too happy with me.. So I won't.:) After that we drove to babies R us just down the road and picked out a few little things to celebrate. When we got home, I showed him my stash of tests I had been taking to convince my self... he just laughed. He couldn't believe how many there were... I will be honest... I was a little excessive... But I really didn't believe it!

Since then we have had a few doctors appointments. They had to get me in early, and send me to a specialist because I was having pains. They were worried the baby was ectopic. We were so blessed to find out that our baby was in the right place and growing. What had been causing my pains was my uterus. I have kind of a weird situation. They aren't sure exactly which I have but I either have a Bicornuate uterus or  Uterus Didielphys. These are both splits in the uterus the difference is, just how far does the split go. It is very rare - so not a lot of doctors have dealt with it. It is just something I was born with, and how my uterus formed when I was a fetus. But anyways, this does pose some risks toward being pregnant and toward the baby. Mostly I am considered high risk. I have an MRI scheduled for Thursday of this week so that they will know more about my uterus and know if I have one or two kidneys in case I need to have a c-section to deliver. ( most of the time the babies are breech because there isn't enough room for them to turn as they naturally would - It's like growing a baby in half a uterus) This "condition" or whatever you might call it is usually related to having only one kidney - so that is also a reason for the MRI. But so far, we have been SO blessed. Every time we have gone to the doctor the baby has been healthy and moving around- and so far the baby is staying head down (cross your fingers for me....) I am so grateful to our Heavenly Father for even allowing us the ability to even get pregnant, I pray that everything continues to go well!!

But for the fun parts I am 15 weeks and in my second trimester! Yay! We have appointments during the beginning of May so I HOPE they will be able to tell us what we are having!! My guess is a boy! but that's just a guess - so don't hold me to it if I'm wrong!

 This is What I showed Shane when we got home after I told him the news! haha
(this wasn't all of them either....)

 This is what we sent our families to tell the them news!

 One of the better pictures we got at our last ultrasound! Baby is GROWING!

This is the little blanket and lamb we bought at Babies "R" Us on the day I told Shane

We went to the Red and White Utah game this last weekend! This is us on our way to the game in our Utah gear