Wednesday, April 28, 2010

Hilarious Dog Pics

So my sister sent these to me in an email and I couldn't help but laugh out loud at the office. They are too cute not to share!




















Thursday, April 22, 2010

Natural Childbirth

There has been a lot of discussion about what my childbirth plans are. So to fill everyone in, here it is.....

My ultimate number one goal is to not have a c-section. I think that they are overused in hospitals as a quick and easy way to keep the doctors on schedule. Of course there are obvious medical reasons to use them and plenty of people would not have had a healthy baby without them- I totally understand that! But, I also feel like women have been having babies for thousands of years, and I would like to have my baby naturally. I think I would be devastated if I had to have a c-section, but let's get real - My REAL number one goal is to make sure Baby D is safe and healthy and I will do whatever I can to make sure that happens.

With that being said, in my head (you don't have to agree with me and that's totally fine) the best way to avoid a c-section is to avoid interventions (yes, like epidurals and pitocin). I would be totally down with epidurals and not feeling a darn thing if it did not mess with my body's knowledge of how to handle the labor. Again, I am not the only woman in the history of mankind to have a baby.

Also, I am super cheap and I don't want to pay for one. Even though Zach would do it in a heartbeat, I am the one that is the cheapo. I cannot make that justification (maybe I will get back to you at 7 cm dilation, but for now, I can't justify wasting our money like that). And, that needle totally scares the poo out of me!~

Third of all, I am about as stubborn as you can get. I don't go around shouting from the rooftops that I want to have a natural childbirth, but if someone asks me I will tell them. For the most part, I am met with "you are crazy"- and actually in all of our birthing classes and in stories of labor they are mostly tailored to the fact that all of the women will get epidurals. Well, you know me- that means that I don't want to get one. If everyone is doing it- then I don't want to. Haha- I guess that's just how I operate in a weird way. Same thing with the drinking- if that is what everyone is doing- then I don't want to.

I would love to say that an epidural is always an option- but I know that if I have that in the back of my mind I will take the easy way out. I have to pretend like that is not one of my options.

I am also absolutely terrified of pitocin. This is the drug that is given to the mom in order to speed up the labor process (if she is not progressing on her own). That sounds great right? Well, basically all of that pain that you were going to feel over hours of birthing is packed into a much shorter amount of time and the mom has much less rest between contractions. Although it happens, it it makes it much harder for a mom to still go natural when on pitocin.

Also, there is this little thing called "pit to distress"- I am not big on conspiracy theories and I really don't believe in them (some people say that pit to distress is something like this.... "All that Pit is not to coerce mom’s body into birthing ASAP so they can turn that moneymaking bed over, but to purposefully squeeze all the oxygen out of her baby so they can put on a concerned face and say, “Oh dear, looks like we’re heading to the OR!”") I really do not think doctors actively think like this- they shouldn't be a doctor if they did. But I have researched the effects of pitocin on the labor process. It can put stress on the baby if given too much of a dosage, which is why many moms can end up in the OR with a c-section. Obviously I do not want any intervention to put stress on Baby D- but I also again will stress the fact that women have been having babies for thousands of years! Not all women are the same, and not all women are on a quick birth process. Sometimes it takes longer than that. I would like my body to tell me what is going on and how fast it wants to go.

Well, all in all- that is my goal. But again, Baby D's safety is the ultimate concern and I will do whatever I need to do for him to get here!

My disclaimer is that I am not a crazy person who runs around telling people who get c-sections and epidurals that they are crazy. Every person is different and every person should have the right to decide on their own- this is just my goal.

This is a trailer of the Ricki Lake movie that I got from Keight Dukes' blog - I know, I know- Just because I said "Ricki Lake" you probably won't watch it. But, it is pretty powerful and I think it's worth the 2 minutes of your life to watch it.

Tuesday, April 20, 2010

34 weeks 4 days and a Nursery Teaser

Sorry for missing a belly-post last week. The past few weeks have been crazy hectic between school and volleyball. Now, they will slow down until the first week of May when I have exams (even then, it won't be too bad- most of my classes are pretty easy in the test department)
34 weeks 4 days
It's amazing how much it changed in 2 weeks


I am still waiting on two very important nursery items- a rocker and a "must-have" picture that Zach wanted in the baby's room. So until then, I am not going to post any nursery pictures because then I would have to do it all over again once we finished it. But, I did want to show you guys a few of the super cute things that we do have in there.

This is from Zach's brother Jake and his wife Hannah.
It folds up into a basketball.


But, it opens up into a little chair.
Our little man's first recliner :-)


The basketball rug finally came in from Babies R Us the other day. It's so cute!

Not that we are shoving basketball down our little man's throat or anything, but it is such a cute nursery! If he doesn't want to play sports when he grows up that is totally fine, so long as he is putting his effort into something 100%. But for now, we can send him subliminal messages.... or very overt messages! haha

Tuesday, April 13, 2010

April Showers Bring May Babies! Not June Babies,...take the hint Baby D

Sunday April 11th was Shower Day!

The first shower was thrown by Bri for the team. Favorite moment: Watching them all taste baby food...haha! They got into it though and we had a winner get 6/8 correct. Nasty. I'm not a fan so Baby D will be eating his own food and won't have to worry about mommy stealing any from him. And we did the "guess how hiege I am" with toilet paper (Zach's word pronounced hidge- ee. The word has multiple meanings, but the most popular is "fat" or "eats a lot"- it's a fun word and I pretty much use it daily mostly for making fun of others) - which could have turned out to be a disaster, but good thing we have some smart girls on the team because no one was more than two toilet paper squares off.
My lovely team. These are all of our returners for next year.

After the team shower, I had a "big girl" shower- I prefer to not call it the older people shower- cause that would mean that I'm old, no thank you. Bri, Katrina, and Gina all helped throw this one. I learned lots of new things... like there has been a baby born who was 23 lbs (geez....).... and that I don't know any nursery rhymes. I didn't know there was actually more to rub-a-dub-dub three men in a tub. Yeah, it keeps going, I had no idea. Apparently my mom did not teach us proper nursery rhymes.

The awesome diaper cake that I did NOT want to take apart when I got home. it was too pretty!


Love them!
Dana is due April 27th-I'm pretty sure that I am going to be super jealous when she gets to be done with pregnancy and I am just starting the miserable phase.

I had so much fun at all the showers- thank you to everyone who came! Now I have no excuse to not finish the nursery- so I guess pictures will be up soon if I get motivated!

P.S.- hopefully Baby D gets the hint about the title- Please no post due-date arrivals. Thank you!

Wednesday, April 7, 2010

32 weeks 5 days

Right now I am almost 33 weeks. I am exactly 1 month away from being full-term (which even though the baby probably won't come then- it will be a much needed relief to know that he can come whenever he wants and he will be healthy!)

As you can see the belly is getting a bit more round- I used to feel like it was a torpedo coming straight out!

32 weeks 5 days
(51 days to go!)

I have a whole list of things to do before May 7th gets here- including studying for all my exams (can't wait until that's over!)- but things like pack our hospital bags, get the car seat installed by someone who actually knows what they're doing (like the fire dpt.), finish the nursery (yikes), wash all the clothes and sheets (oh and buy detergent so that I can actually do that), etc, etc, etc.

Oh yeah, and deal with the worst insurance company in the history of mankind. To fill everyone in: I kept getting bills for things that they should have been paying for- so late Feb. I called and ever so sweetly asked what was going on- oh yeah, they lost my claim of pregnancy form so according to them I wasn't pregnant and they didn't have to pay for pregnancy stuff. Right.... So I had to fill out another form, which is still being processed because they are totally on top of things. In the meantime I got an angry letter from the business dept. at Comanche County Memorial Hospital saying that they have not heard anything from my insurance company and if it is not cleared up then they will start billing me directly. So, I'm off to call them again and try to get them to speed up the process. At this point in time, they have not done ONE thing right- so this should be a fun couple of months :-)

Friday, April 2, 2010

The Peace of Westphalia

Almost 3 years ago, I brought home a little puppy to live at Zach's apartment while we were in college. Cutest little thing in the whole world. He was a 3 month old rescue and scared of his own shadow.

With that little smooshy face, how could you not spoil him rotten?

But now, he is almost three and still acting too much like a puppy. He gets into things all the time and he has it has turned into a strain on the marriage. Zach was never a big fan of dogs in the first place- he just never grew up with one, so it's not his fault that he sees dogs as "dogs" and not as mini-children like I always have. So when MJ is inside all day and gets into things it turns into "it's me or the dog." Zach's solution: outside dog 24/7. I am pretty sure my heart would break into a million pieces if I had to make him sleep outside. I'm sure he could handle it (maybe), but I'm not so sure that I could!

Never again will you see Zach holding MJ like he did when he was a puppy
1st of all he is too big now, and 2nd of all Zach is not a big dog "lover"
This picture was totally staged and Zach had no choice

Our marriage is too important to let MJ be the catalyst for a fight so it was necessary to find some sort of peace agreement and compromise.

And never again will you catch MJ in the bed.
Oh the things they can get away with when they are puppies....

So, back to the title- I'm a history nerd and the Peace of Westphalia was the first of the real peace treaty of the modern world. Before that, wars and treaties were decided based on religion. This treaty ended the 30 years war and was decided based on what was best for the state and had nothing to do with religion- so a total reconstruction of communication and diplomacy.

So now, Zach and I have started with our whole new reconstruction of communication and diplomacy by actually stopping the continuous dog fights and coming to an agreement- crazy talk!

So here's the fruits of our peace treaty- massive doggie jail (not a derogatory phrase- that's just what we have always called his kennel)- so now he has the whole kitchen to himself.


He is outside all day and comes in at night when we are home and stays in the kitchen. He has his bed and toys in there now. It is an easy floor to clean, and there is not much he can get into unless he learns to open the cabinets by himself (which I really wouldn't put it past him to figure out- he is a little doggie genius when it comes to figuring out how to get into trouble).

The weather has been great until this morning. A huge thunderstorm came through so we had to leave him in the kitchen. I think he was a little disappointed- He has really enjoyed being outside for a majority of the day. He has his dog house and bed out there with water (although he prefers to move aside all of the nice wood chips that Zach put out and sit right in the dirt- awesome- did I mention it's great cause the kitchen floor is easy to clean?!)

It was important for me that MJ begin this transition as soon as possible so that he doesn't associate his new digs with the new baby. So hopefully by the time baby D gets here, MJ will be fully transitioned. The first couple nights he barked and whined 'cause he wasn't at the foot of our bed- but the past few nights have been great and he has been really quiet- even when I get up to go to the bathroom.

So hopefully the puppy wars are over. Stay tuned....