"I give you the Griswold family Christmas tree."Ok, maybe not as exciting as theirs, but here are the pics:
Pictures of the nursery will be up after it's complete...hopefully by tomorrow night.
Friday, December 18, 2009
Christmas Decor '09
This is just for you Uncle LaDaryl...
Pictures of the nursery will be up after it's complete...hopefully by tomorrow night.
Pictures of the nursery will be up after it's complete...hopefully by tomorrow night.
Wednesday, December 16, 2009
It's a War Eagle Christmas!
If you are an Auburn fan, appreciate Clark Griswold's determined and optimistic effort to light every inch of his house, or if you just have any ounce of the CHRISTmas spirit in you...watch this video. It's long, but pretty cool. I promise all you non-Auburn fans, if you can survive (or just skip) the first 53 seconds, you will enjoy the rest of the show.
Monday, December 14, 2009
Weekend Update and Lily's Arrival
Last Sunday night, I was unloading the groceries and realized that I didn't make it home with my trail mix bars. I paid for them, but they were never put back in my grocery cart. I knew then that there must be a whole bag of groceries missing and I wouldn't notice it until I decided to cook something and didn't have all the ingredients. That occurred Friday night. Allison came into town for the weekend. She got here around 8:30pm and since my sodium diet restricts basically all restaurant food, we decided to make potato soup and broccoli cheddar cornbread. Unfortunately, the missing grocery bag held the potatoes and the Jiffy cornbread mix. Needless to say, we didn't have potato soup and cornbread for dinner. It would be one thing to be missing the cream of onion for the soup or the cheese for the cornbread. It's quite difficult to make potato soup without potatoes or cornbread without cornbread mix. Instead, we ordered Steak Out and didn't eat dinner that night until 10pm!
Saturday, Ashley and Brian came up and they, along with Brent and Allison, worked in the nursery all day--washing clothes, hanging pictures, organizing closets, sanitizing bottles, etc. It was such a blessing to have their help! The nursery is completely ready for Lily, minus the bedding and curtains (which Santa Claus is bringing this week--I put in an early arrival request once I went on bedrest). Saturday night, Brent and Allison went to the Christmas tree farm and cut down a tree. I had decided I would be ok without a Christmas tree this year (which is SO unlike me, but I figured it would be easier on everyone) but Brent insisted. So, they came home with the largest tree I've ever had in my house...getting close to the size of Uncle LaDaryl's tree (and that's really large...the circumference of the bottom of the tree is usually greater than the height). Brent had to cut off a foot from the top of the tree to get it to fit in the den. I'm thankful that we still do not own a tree topper, because it would not be on the tree this year. Brent and Allison claimed that it didn't seem that big on the farm. Well, of course not, because the sky is the limit out there! After buying 300 more lights, they decorated the tree while I laid on the couch and kindly gave orders. And of course, Elvis serenaded us with beautiful Christmas music. Although the tree is large, it's definitely my most favorite tree ever. I could stare at it all day long. It's colossal size just adds to the many memories that will be made this Christmas season. And, I must add, Elvis brought my BP down that night (104/59). That's the lowest it's been, so I guess Elvis will need to come with us to the hospital.
I went to the doctor today. Heard some good news: my doctor no longer thinks I have preeclampsia, just PIH (pregnancy induced hypertension). PIH can still be a serious issue, just not as serious as preeclampsia. My BP was high again (160/80) but it's never been near that high at home. I showed her my BP readings for the past week, and there were only a few that were high (140s/80s). It's always after a shower or eating a meal that my BP goes up. Sadly, that's the most activity I get these days. I've lost more of the water weight that I gained! My stomach measured 39 cm, so Lily is quickly running out of room. The doc hooked me up to the fetal monitor again and said we have one happy baby :) I go back this Thursday for my 36 week ultrasound, again next Monday for one final check-up...then, Monday, December 28th, at 8:30am I will be in the OR having a c-section!!! So 2 more weeks of bedrest, one more run with the orange jug (yes, I have to do a third urine test!), a crazy Christmas, and Lily will be here!
Saturday, Ashley and Brian came up and they, along with Brent and Allison, worked in the nursery all day--washing clothes, hanging pictures, organizing closets, sanitizing bottles, etc. It was such a blessing to have their help! The nursery is completely ready for Lily, minus the bedding and curtains (which Santa Claus is bringing this week--I put in an early arrival request once I went on bedrest). Saturday night, Brent and Allison went to the Christmas tree farm and cut down a tree. I had decided I would be ok without a Christmas tree this year (which is SO unlike me, but I figured it would be easier on everyone) but Brent insisted. So, they came home with the largest tree I've ever had in my house...getting close to the size of Uncle LaDaryl's tree (and that's really large...the circumference of the bottom of the tree is usually greater than the height). Brent had to cut off a foot from the top of the tree to get it to fit in the den. I'm thankful that we still do not own a tree topper, because it would not be on the tree this year. Brent and Allison claimed that it didn't seem that big on the farm. Well, of course not, because the sky is the limit out there! After buying 300 more lights, they decorated the tree while I laid on the couch and kindly gave orders. And of course, Elvis serenaded us with beautiful Christmas music. Although the tree is large, it's definitely my most favorite tree ever. I could stare at it all day long. It's colossal size just adds to the many memories that will be made this Christmas season. And, I must add, Elvis brought my BP down that night (104/59). That's the lowest it's been, so I guess Elvis will need to come with us to the hospital.
I went to the doctor today. Heard some good news: my doctor no longer thinks I have preeclampsia, just PIH (pregnancy induced hypertension). PIH can still be a serious issue, just not as serious as preeclampsia. My BP was high again (160/80) but it's never been near that high at home. I showed her my BP readings for the past week, and there were only a few that were high (140s/80s). It's always after a shower or eating a meal that my BP goes up. Sadly, that's the most activity I get these days. I've lost more of the water weight that I gained! My stomach measured 39 cm, so Lily is quickly running out of room. The doc hooked me up to the fetal monitor again and said we have one happy baby :) I go back this Thursday for my 36 week ultrasound, again next Monday for one final check-up...then, Monday, December 28th, at 8:30am I will be in the OR having a c-section!!! So 2 more weeks of bedrest, one more run with the orange jug (yes, I have to do a third urine test!), a crazy Christmas, and Lily will be here!
Friday, December 11, 2009
Our Crazy Weekend Part 3
Part 3: Bittersweet Bedrest
Sunday night I thought I needed to go to the emergency room. One of the symptoms of preeclampsia is a sharp pain/tenderness under your right breast. The tenderness has been there for weeks, but I just recently started getting the sharp pain. It all hit me Sunday night that I had high blood pressure and had all these tests done, but since it was the weekend I hadn't heard about the results. What if I really had preeclampsia and was on the verge of being eclamptic (seizures)? So I started crying hysterically and asked Brent to take me to the hospital. Being the wonderful husband that he is, he knew that 99.9% of my emotion was hormonal and he made me lay down in the bed on my left side. He took my blood pressure and I counted kicks. All seemed to be fine. I decided I would call my doctor on Monday morning to find out the test results and see if the pain in my chest was reason to come in again. So, I called my doc office Monday morning and had to leave a message. The nurse called me back within an hour and told me the results were normal and the pain in my chest was just heart burn. But I knew it wasn't. I explained that I've been taking Zantac twice a day for indigestion and it has cured all heartburn, I also feel the heartburn in my throat and never in my chest. So she had me come in at 3:30 that afternoon. When I got there, the nurse weighed me and I had lost 3 lbs! Then, she took my BP and had this horrid look on her face. "So, what is it?" I asked her. It was 160/100. Not good. She hooked me up to the fetal monitor, gave me some cold water and had me lay there for 25 minutes, monitoring Lily and hoping to get my BP down. Lily's heartbeat was good and I wasn't having any contractions, but my BP remained at 160/100 after laying still for 25 minutes. The doc came in and did a quick exam, told me my cervix was hard as a rock and my pelvis was too small and "not favorable", gave me orders to go straight to Labor and Delivery, told me that I was on bedrest in the hospital until delivery, and said she would come visit me in the morning. I could have sat there and just cried until the office closed, but I put my big girl panties on, marched myself over to L&D, all the while making numerous phone calls, and got placed in a room. I went through the whole admission process of paper work and a ridiculous amount of questions, and after 30 minutes I was in a HUGE robe that the nurse wouldn't let me tie in case they had to perform an emergency c-section, had yet another orange urine jug, hooked up to the baby monitor, blood pressure cuff, and had an IV started. Before Brent could get to the hospital he had to go home, turn off the crock pot with a yummy roast in it, take care of Sanibel, and pack our bags. It wasn't until he arrived that I was able to breathe like a normal person. Ahhhh. So then it just became a waiting game. I was on a sodium diet and was restricted to only hospital food, so my dinner selection was extremely limited. I had chicken, cold mixed veggies, salad with fat free dressing, water, and pepper. Haha...no salt packets for me! I had quite a few visitors that night. Monday night was the faculty Christmas party at school. After the principal, teachers, and secretary went to dinner, they came to visit me. They brought me a book with the lyrics and CD for "A Baby Changes Everything" by Faith Hill. I refused to listen to it that night, I knew the tears would be non-stop. The nurses moved me to another room and shortly after that my mom and aunt came to visit me. After that, they went to the house and got my first "child", Sanibel, and took her back to the Ham to hang out with Uncle Sparky until further notice.
Monday night was my first time to ever spend the night in the hospital. I was dreading it, knowing I would get NO sleep. I actually slept really well, minus all the bathroom trips. I went through 3 IV bags of fluid while there, and I still drank as much water as I normally do. Bathroom breaks were very frequent! And unfortunately, due to the IV cords that didn't reach the bathroom, the location of the toilet paper, and that dumb orange jug, going to the bathroom was a two person job. Despite all the times I woke Brent up during the night for bathroom breaks, he also slept pretty well. My doc came in at 7:45 Tuesday morning and told me that if my blood pressure continued to be normal throughout the day, that I could go home after the urine test was over. She also told me that I would most likely have a c-section and that she wanted me to get to 37 or 38 weeks. The nurses there were extremely nice and helpful. I always had a cup of ice! I LOVE hospital ice, that's the one positive thing about hospitals. By 6 pm Tuesday night, the urine test was over and my blood pressure was stabilized and I got permission to go home for the remainder of my bedrest.
So I've been on bedrest for nearly 4 days now and it's been bittersweet. My days are spent with TV, iTunes, Facebook, thank you notes, reading, phone calls, texting, and meals and help from sweet friends. I had an intuition throughout this entire pregnancy that I would not make it to Jan. 10. I didn't know it would end with bedrest, but I just knew the end of my pregnancy was not going to end as planned. That's why I was so stressed about getting things done. People kept telling me, "Oh, you've got time," but I've known all along that I didn't have time. I knew the time would be cut short in some way, and it has, and there is still so much to be done. Thankfully, my loving husband is doing so much for me and, like I've mentioned before, he does it all with a willing and cheerful heart. Never complains, never gets impatient, just completely selfless and loving me as Christ does. We also have wonderful friends and family that are bringing meals and coming over to help with whatever, from bringing me DVDs to hanging pictures in the nursery. I am overwhelmed with blessings and grateful beyond words.
Although being on bedrest is not ideal and definitely not full of excitement, I thank God for it. I was getting stressed at work, trying to tie up everything and get ready for a maternity leave, then coming home and staying stressed with my "Before Lily Arrives" to-do list, I was getting little rest--going to bed at 11 or later and getting up at 5:30. Regardless of whether I have preeclampsia or not, God knew I needed to be forced to rest. Despite the boredom, I've enjoyed it. It's been a time for me to reflect on what a wonderful marriage/husband I have. I have definitely grown to love Brent more and more each day as I watch him serve and take care of me. I've always known what a gentleman he is, that's one of the reasons I fell in love with him way back in 10th grade. I'm not amazed or shocked by his behavior, because he's always done a wonderful job of taking care of me. I'm just more and more thankful and humbled by God's provision for me and care of me displayed through Brent. Bedrest has also been a time for me to really realize that my life is about to be flipped upside down, for the better of course. It has been very bittersweet for me to lie here and think about how soon Lily will be here. I don't want to miss a beat. I compare it to my wedding day. I looked forward to that day my entire life. It came, I enjoyed it, and it went. I'll never have that day again, never experience my wedding day again. It's over. Same with Lily's birth--I'll never be pregnant for the first time again, I'll never see my first child for the first time again, etc. A lot of "firsts" are about to come and go. I don't want to wish away this time. I want to thoroughly enjoy every second as I look forward to Lily's arrival. I am absolutely elated. Remember the song "A Baby Changes Everything" that I refused to listen to in the hospital? I listen to it at least once a day and cry every time, as well as all the songs on the "L&D" iTunes playlist I have created. From this point on, I will always think of the Christmas season in a new way because I now have new Christmas memories. For the first time ever, I will spend Christmas in this house and either be on bedrest or recovering from a c-section. When I hear a Christmas song, I will think of my bittersweet bedrest and the very quiet time that Lily and I shared together before she was welcomed into the world. I can't wait to meet her, but I want to learn to bask in this time so that when she does arrive I don't just let the moment pass me by. I'm learning just how precious a newborn is, especially my own. I pray that I will soak up every bit of time I have now, during and after her birth. I love my sweet Lily.
P.S. Sanibel, I have NOT forgotten about you. I'm sorry that the next time you see me, there will be a new person in the house stealing attention away from you. But you will be a big sister! I hope Uncle Sparky is teaching you a lot about having siblings. It's a big task. You have to be gentle with Lily, love her, and set a good example for her. I promise to still love and play with you. That will not change. And, yes, we can teach Lily how to play soccer and racquetball.
Sunday night I thought I needed to go to the emergency room. One of the symptoms of preeclampsia is a sharp pain/tenderness under your right breast. The tenderness has been there for weeks, but I just recently started getting the sharp pain. It all hit me Sunday night that I had high blood pressure and had all these tests done, but since it was the weekend I hadn't heard about the results. What if I really had preeclampsia and was on the verge of being eclamptic (seizures)? So I started crying hysterically and asked Brent to take me to the hospital. Being the wonderful husband that he is, he knew that 99.9% of my emotion was hormonal and he made me lay down in the bed on my left side. He took my blood pressure and I counted kicks. All seemed to be fine. I decided I would call my doctor on Monday morning to find out the test results and see if the pain in my chest was reason to come in again. So, I called my doc office Monday morning and had to leave a message. The nurse called me back within an hour and told me the results were normal and the pain in my chest was just heart burn. But I knew it wasn't. I explained that I've been taking Zantac twice a day for indigestion and it has cured all heartburn, I also feel the heartburn in my throat and never in my chest. So she had me come in at 3:30 that afternoon. When I got there, the nurse weighed me and I had lost 3 lbs! Then, she took my BP and had this horrid look on her face. "So, what is it?" I asked her. It was 160/100. Not good. She hooked me up to the fetal monitor, gave me some cold water and had me lay there for 25 minutes, monitoring Lily and hoping to get my BP down. Lily's heartbeat was good and I wasn't having any contractions, but my BP remained at 160/100 after laying still for 25 minutes. The doc came in and did a quick exam, told me my cervix was hard as a rock and my pelvis was too small and "not favorable", gave me orders to go straight to Labor and Delivery, told me that I was on bedrest in the hospital until delivery, and said she would come visit me in the morning. I could have sat there and just cried until the office closed, but I put my big girl panties on, marched myself over to L&D, all the while making numerous phone calls, and got placed in a room. I went through the whole admission process of paper work and a ridiculous amount of questions, and after 30 minutes I was in a HUGE robe that the nurse wouldn't let me tie in case they had to perform an emergency c-section, had yet another orange urine jug, hooked up to the baby monitor, blood pressure cuff, and had an IV started. Before Brent could get to the hospital he had to go home, turn off the crock pot with a yummy roast in it, take care of Sanibel, and pack our bags. It wasn't until he arrived that I was able to breathe like a normal person. Ahhhh. So then it just became a waiting game. I was on a sodium diet and was restricted to only hospital food, so my dinner selection was extremely limited. I had chicken, cold mixed veggies, salad with fat free dressing, water, and pepper. Haha...no salt packets for me! I had quite a few visitors that night. Monday night was the faculty Christmas party at school. After the principal, teachers, and secretary went to dinner, they came to visit me. They brought me a book with the lyrics and CD for "A Baby Changes Everything" by Faith Hill. I refused to listen to it that night, I knew the tears would be non-stop. The nurses moved me to another room and shortly after that my mom and aunt came to visit me. After that, they went to the house and got my first "child", Sanibel, and took her back to the Ham to hang out with Uncle Sparky until further notice.
Monday night was my first time to ever spend the night in the hospital. I was dreading it, knowing I would get NO sleep. I actually slept really well, minus all the bathroom trips. I went through 3 IV bags of fluid while there, and I still drank as much water as I normally do. Bathroom breaks were very frequent! And unfortunately, due to the IV cords that didn't reach the bathroom, the location of the toilet paper, and that dumb orange jug, going to the bathroom was a two person job. Despite all the times I woke Brent up during the night for bathroom breaks, he also slept pretty well. My doc came in at 7:45 Tuesday morning and told me that if my blood pressure continued to be normal throughout the day, that I could go home after the urine test was over. She also told me that I would most likely have a c-section and that she wanted me to get to 37 or 38 weeks. The nurses there were extremely nice and helpful. I always had a cup of ice! I LOVE hospital ice, that's the one positive thing about hospitals. By 6 pm Tuesday night, the urine test was over and my blood pressure was stabilized and I got permission to go home for the remainder of my bedrest.
So I've been on bedrest for nearly 4 days now and it's been bittersweet. My days are spent with TV, iTunes, Facebook, thank you notes, reading, phone calls, texting, and meals and help from sweet friends. I had an intuition throughout this entire pregnancy that I would not make it to Jan. 10. I didn't know it would end with bedrest, but I just knew the end of my pregnancy was not going to end as planned. That's why I was so stressed about getting things done. People kept telling me, "Oh, you've got time," but I've known all along that I didn't have time. I knew the time would be cut short in some way, and it has, and there is still so much to be done. Thankfully, my loving husband is doing so much for me and, like I've mentioned before, he does it all with a willing and cheerful heart. Never complains, never gets impatient, just completely selfless and loving me as Christ does. We also have wonderful friends and family that are bringing meals and coming over to help with whatever, from bringing me DVDs to hanging pictures in the nursery. I am overwhelmed with blessings and grateful beyond words.
Although being on bedrest is not ideal and definitely not full of excitement, I thank God for it. I was getting stressed at work, trying to tie up everything and get ready for a maternity leave, then coming home and staying stressed with my "Before Lily Arrives" to-do list, I was getting little rest--going to bed at 11 or later and getting up at 5:30. Regardless of whether I have preeclampsia or not, God knew I needed to be forced to rest. Despite the boredom, I've enjoyed it. It's been a time for me to reflect on what a wonderful marriage/husband I have. I have definitely grown to love Brent more and more each day as I watch him serve and take care of me. I've always known what a gentleman he is, that's one of the reasons I fell in love with him way back in 10th grade. I'm not amazed or shocked by his behavior, because he's always done a wonderful job of taking care of me. I'm just more and more thankful and humbled by God's provision for me and care of me displayed through Brent. Bedrest has also been a time for me to really realize that my life is about to be flipped upside down, for the better of course. It has been very bittersweet for me to lie here and think about how soon Lily will be here. I don't want to miss a beat. I compare it to my wedding day. I looked forward to that day my entire life. It came, I enjoyed it, and it went. I'll never have that day again, never experience my wedding day again. It's over. Same with Lily's birth--I'll never be pregnant for the first time again, I'll never see my first child for the first time again, etc. A lot of "firsts" are about to come and go. I don't want to wish away this time. I want to thoroughly enjoy every second as I look forward to Lily's arrival. I am absolutely elated. Remember the song "A Baby Changes Everything" that I refused to listen to in the hospital? I listen to it at least once a day and cry every time, as well as all the songs on the "L&D" iTunes playlist I have created. From this point on, I will always think of the Christmas season in a new way because I now have new Christmas memories. For the first time ever, I will spend Christmas in this house and either be on bedrest or recovering from a c-section. When I hear a Christmas song, I will think of my bittersweet bedrest and the very quiet time that Lily and I shared together before she was welcomed into the world. I can't wait to meet her, but I want to learn to bask in this time so that when she does arrive I don't just let the moment pass me by. I'm learning just how precious a newborn is, especially my own. I pray that I will soak up every bit of time I have now, during and after her birth. I love my sweet Lily.
P.S. Sanibel, I have NOT forgotten about you. I'm sorry that the next time you see me, there will be a new person in the house stealing attention away from you. But you will be a big sister! I hope Uncle Sparky is teaching you a lot about having siblings. It's a big task. You have to be gentle with Lily, love her, and set a good example for her. I promise to still love and play with you. That will not change. And, yes, we can teach Lily how to play soccer and racquetball.
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