Announcing - Justin Scott Fisher!!!!

Happy, Cuddly, cute as can be

Our baby's arrived ... blessed are we!

We are delighted to announce the birth of
Justin Scott Fisher
born on August 29, 2006
at 9:37 am
7 lb. 12 oz. 21 inches
to proud parents Briana and Joseph Fisher
and big brother Joey Fisher.

He is the most wonderful baby. He hardly cries (mostly squeaks!), sleeps a lot, is eating well and is very very cuddly. We are truly blessed!

He surprised us in the fact that he is much smaller than Joey was when born (Joey was 8lbs 15oz). He's so very tiny and sweet! :) I'm sure I'll be updating with more photos soon!

He's so tiny. Look at his head size compared to my thumb!

Home today. He's yawning! :)

The first night - right before being weighed, measured and foot prints. The nurse that remeasured him changed his height to 21 inches. She said they had down 20 inches but it was probably because his legs were bent from the delivery.

Joey's 15 day old photo below:

Is it me or does Joey and Justin look very very similar? This is Joey's photo above when he was 15 days old. Compare it to the photo just above this. WOW!

Some good recipes we've tried recently!

First of all, can I plug Taste of Home's new replacement to the Quick Cooking magazine - they created a new magazine to replace it called Simple and Delicious. The magazine is marvelous! We've found a lot of good recipes in there. Here are a few of my favorites.

We made this one today. Everyone who ate it LOVED it:

Creamy Chicken with Noodles

INGREDIENTS

* 8 ounces uncooked egg noodles
* 6 boneless skinless chicken breast halves (4 ounces each)
* 1/2 teaspoon salt
* 1/4 teaspoon pepper
* 3 to 4 tablespoons olive oil, divided
* 2 cups sliced fresh mushrooms
* 1 teaspoon minced garlic
* 1 can (10-3/4 ounces) condensed cream of chicken soup, undiluted
* 1 can (10-3/4 ounces) condensed cream of mushroom soup, undiluted
* 3/4 cup half-and-half cream
* 1/4 cup marsala wine or chicken broth
* 1/4 teaspoon chili powder
* 1/2 cup minced fresh parsley, divided

DIRECTIONS

Cook noodles according to package directions. Meanwhile, flatten chicken to 1/4-in. thickness. Sprinkle with salt and pepper. In a large skillet, cook chicken in 2 tablespoons oil in batches for 5-7 minutes on each side or until golden brown and juices run clear; remove and keep warm.
In the same skillet, saute mushrooms and garlic in remaining oil until tender. Stir in the soups, cream, wine or broth and chili powder until blended; heat through. Stir in 1/4 cup parsley.
Drain noodles; serve with chicken and sauce. Sprinkle with remaining parsley. Yield: 6 servings.


We made this one a few weeks ago - YUM!!!

Quick Chicken Cordon Bleu

INGREDIENTS

* 4 boneless skinless chicken breast halves
* 2 teaspoons Dijon mustard
* 1/2 teaspoon paprika
* 4 thin slices fully cooked ham
* 1 cup soft bread crumbs
* 1/4 cup grated Parmesan cheese
* 1/4 teaspoon pepper
* 3 to 4 tablespoons mayonnaise
* SAUCE:
* 1 tablespoon butter
* 1 tablespoon all-purpose flour
* 1 cup milk
* 1/4 teaspoon salt
* 1/2 cup shredded Swiss cheese
* 2 tablespoons white wine

DIRECTIONS

Flatten the chicken to 1/2-in. thickness. Spread mustard on one side; sprinkle with paprika. Top each with a ham slice. Roll up tightly; secure with toothpicks.
In a bowl, combine bread crumbs, Parmesan cheese and pepper. Brush chicken with mayonnaise; roll in crumb mixture.
Place in a shallow 2-qt. microwave-safe dish; cover loosely. Microwave on high for 7 minutes; turn chicken. Cook 5-1/2 minutes more or until juices run clear; keep warm.
In a 1-qt. microwave-safe dish, heat butter on high for 20 seconds; stir in flour until smooth. Cook, uncovered, on high for 20 seconds. Add milk and salt. Cook 2-3 minutes longer or until thickened. Stir in cheese until smooth. Add wine. Discard toothpicks from chicken; top with sauce. Yield: 4 servings. Editor's Note: This recipe was tested in a 1,100-watt microwave.

Our busy week - last week before the baby!

Don’t be fooled by my absence of writing in my blog. It means I’m TIRED – but no baby yet!

Thursday (24^th) I went to my OB appt. My dr. is in China, so I saw a stand in doctor. She could not even FEEL my cervix it was so far back so she said I’ve definitely have no dilated at all or it would have moved forward some. She measured me and asked how big my first baby was. I said 8lbs 15oz. She said this baby is no where near that size.

Now compare that with a week before on Friday (18^th) when I saw my regular OB. I asked him to do a fundal measurement and he said this baby will be about 9+ lbs. So who is right??! It’s so weird that one said this baby is no where near as big as 8lbs 15oz, and my doctor thinks this one will be bigger. Go figure! I guess we’ll find out on Tuesday.

This week has been laced with a ton of working and then doing errands in the evening!

Last Saturday/Sunday – we were up north spending time with the Grandma’s. Joe has been craving smores so we bought the stuff to make them, Joe’s mom made a fire and we made smores. See Joey enjoying them? They were OHHH so good!! We also had a great time blowing bubbles.

Joe's mom, Joey and Joe making smores!

Me and my smore - YUM.

You think Joey loves smores? Oh yeah!

MMMM Smores!!

Joey LOVES blowing bubbles. Here he is blowing a BIG one!

Joey and I blowing bubbles!

Joey's other favorite thing is to ride in the MULE. Joe drives really fast and Joey loves going 'faster and faster!'.

Monday I was totally exhausted because we got home around midnight the evening before from grandma’s house. Joe played a baseball game after work so it was just Joey and I in the evening. We just did a few things in the evening outside and then I got him ready for bed and I believe he went down a bit early because I was so tired. I also went to bed early.

Tuesday I had the day off. Joey and I spent the day together. Tuesday Art Van came to deliver my new chair. I love it! Joe also loves it. Joe told me it was his chair. I told him it was mine. Joey looked at me and said, 'No momma - that's daddy's chair!'. I wonder how much money Joe paid off Joey to say that!!

Joe came home and said he needed some new dress shirts for himself and we needed diapers. Off to Costco we went. We got Joe some new shirts. Come to find out he bought the wrong ones. These needed cuff links and he did not want shirts that needed those – he wanted button ones. Frustrating! Then he went to the store and bough the wrong overnight diapers – which I only found out AFTER we opened the package. So Melissa – we have a pack for you – the boys 60+ lbs if you are interested! Luckily I had more overnight diapers stashed away.

Wednesday – We went back to Costco after we got home from work. Then we went to Best Buy to use a coupon we had and to take back a video Joey had 2 of. He picked out his own video – a Percy (Thomas the train) video and we got him a different baby Einstein video. Joe got some really nice Ralph Lauren and Polo dress shirts from Costco.

Thursday – Joe was playing baseball tonight so I was going to my parents house. It took me a hour and 10 minutes to get home when, without traffic, it would only take me about 30 minutes! Just a LOT of traffic. I was 10 minutes late picking Joey up from daycare but Dena didn’t mind because I’m NEVER late! Off we went to Brighton. A woman was getting rid of a whole entire trash bag of boys clothes. I picked those up and then went to my parents house, where my good friend Jenny met me. I had a basketball hoop to give to her. I garbage picked one from our neighborhood and already had one of my own thanks to Melissa! So I gave the one to Jenny for her son Wyatt! Jenny brought gifts for Justin and Joey. She got Justin a barn that has animals in it that make noises and got Joey a tractor with a tiller on the back that he just loves and got both John Deere hats! How sweet!

Friday – we were supposed to go up north but did not because we had some errands I wanted to run on Saturday and I needed to take it easy. Joe mowed grass and weed-wacked (we really needed to do this!!). Joey rode his bike around the block and we took a walk with him in the stroller. Joey had a major breakdown once when I told him we were NOT taking his tricycle across the street to ride it. He likes to ride it on that block because it goes downhill, but can’t ride it back up so I end up carrying his bike. I didn’t feel like doing this over and over so I told him, ‘No, we will NOT go across the street’. He had a major tantrum, which resulted in me carrying him and his bike home (which I wanted to avoid in the first place). The neighbor came out wondering what all the commotion was about. I had to tell her he wanted to go across the street and I said No. Then I told him to go inside, which he was really angry about. He was so angry he puked, all over me, and the floor. By that time I was so mad, I put him in the shower and turned it on to cool him off. It worked for a little bit (I think it shocked him) then he kept screaming he wanted to go outside, he wanted to go outside. I told him we could, if he stopped crying and no bike. No way. Joe then was done mowing the grass and took him for a bike ride, across the street like he wanted, but Joe did NOT carry him bike. He made him ride it back up the hill and carry it up the big hills. After that he was fine all night. He’s so bull-headed. Most times he listens but this time he was a little pistol!

Friday was also my LAST DAY OF WORK!! for 6 weeks. I can not let go. I really like work. I actually put in a new product into production on Friday before I left so that was exciting to finally have ready to go and not have to worry about it being half done before I went on leave. It will probably take me 4 weeks to forget about work, and then 2 weeks after I won't want to go back to work! Go figure!!! It still doesn't feel 'right' to think that I won't be going back until sometime in October!

Saturday (today) – we got up at 8. Joe and Joey played in the morning and we ate breakfast. Around 10am we hit the library. I wanted to get my books I had on hold about how to breastfeed. We got Joey a few books about tractors and trains. They told me I had an overdue book so I had to go home and find it. I swore I took them all back but hence, I found the one they said I still had so we had to go back. Good thing the library is only a few blocks away! Then off to the Honda dealership to get the keys to Joe’s car. All we’ve had is the valet key so they had to cut us some new keys. By the time we were done it was about 12:30!

On the way home Joey fell asleep. When we got home Joe and I ate lunch. Then I wanted to take a nap. We both slept until 4pm! Then we got everything together to go up north to see grandma.

Joey is going to stay with Grandma and Grandma Char (Joe’s grandma and mom) while we go to the hospital to have the baby. We both have Monday off so we will be leaving late Monday and expecting to go into the hospital first thing on Tuesday morning. I’m so nervous about it all! I still need to pack my bag (which I have not done yet!).

My friend Meghan (see blog on right) had a baby a few weeks ago. She had an ultrasound to find out the size of the baby (this is her first) and they told her this baby was so big, they were going to c-section and not even let her go full-term. So she had her c-section and get this – the baby was 11 lbs 1 oz!!! HOLY CRAP! I’ve never heard of that for a first baby and I believe she c-sectioned at 38weeks! Unbelievable! Congrats Meghan! Whew – that is one BIG baby!!

On a similar note Joe measured Joey today and he’s 39 inches tall (3 feet 3 inches). He’s growing sooo fast! He now says bless you after you sneeze and will say, ‘Bless me (mommy or daddy)’ if he sneezes. He will say excuse me after he burps. He says please often and thank you sometimes. It’s amazing watching him grow up!

Well, unless I post on Monday about the weekend, expect to see baby photos next week!!

38 weeks!

First of all, let me say now the pregnancy is finally getting to me. I'm sooo tired. I have no energy at all. I have NO nesting instinct at all - I'm not in the cleaning mode, which is not normal for me because I love to clean. I think I'm just so wiped out!

I'm not really that hungry. I've actually LOST weight since I've gotten home from the hospital even though I'm eating. I've got heartburn bad today which has made me miserable. I'm still working until the end of this week. Next week I'm taking Monday off and Tuesday is my c-section. It's funny how I keep getting bigger but I'm not gaining the weight from it! I'm HUGE now!! See - this is me on Saturday 8/19.

My feet haven't really been swelling since I've been in the hospital. Perhaps because I'm not eating super salty stuff? Sleeping is difficult again. My pelvic muscles are really sore when I lie down for awhile and I have to get up between 2-4 times a night to use the restroom. I swear, I'm gonna be ready for this kid when he comes because of all the restroom trips at night!

I'm assuming this baby will be 9+ lbs when born, based on my dr's measurements and Joey was 8lbs 15oz at 40 weeks, 3 days. This baby will be born one day short of 40 weeks.

38 weeks:
How your baby's growing: Your baby has really fattened up. She likely weighs between 6 and 7 1/2 pounds now (boys tend to be slightly heavier than girls), and she's probably between 19 and 20 inches long. She has a firm grasp, which you'll soon be able to test with your pinky! Her organs are fully developed and in place, but her lungs and brain — though developed enough for her to function now — will continue to mature right through childhood.

Wondering what color your baby's eyes will be? You may not be able to tell right away. If your baby is born with brown eyes, they'll likely stay brown. If she's born with steel gray or dark blue eyes, they may stay gray or blue or turn green, hazel, or brown by the time she's 9 months old. That's because a child's irises (the colored part of the eye) may gain more pigment in the months after she's born, but they won't get "lighter" or more blue. (Green, hazel, and brown eyes have more pigment than gray or blue eyes.)

How your life's changing: It may be harder than ever to get comfortable enough to sleep well at night. Take it easy through the day — this may be your last opportunity to do so for quite a while. Keep monitoring your baby's movements, too. Though she's crowded, she should still be active.

Swelling of your feet is normal in these last weeks, but if you notice any swelling of your hands or face, sudden weight gain, persistent or severe headaches, blurry vision or spots before your eyes, or upper abdominal pain, call your practitioner right away, because these are symptoms of a serious condition called preeclampsia.

Your baby is almost ready to be born now. Your baby's head circumference is about the same as his or her abdomen. Your baby’s intestines have developed a "black, green sticky" substance (meconium) from the liver, pancreas and gall bladder, which will be eliminated shortly after birth. Occasionally, babies have bowel movements before birth, which is a sign that the baby is under stress and can be very serious if babies inhale any amniotic fluid that contains meconium.

You are probably more than ready to get all this over with. You may be increasingly uncomfortable, fatigued and antsy. It may seem that these last couple of weeks are just crawling by, but just remember, pregnancy can’t last forever! Soon, you’ll be holding your new little one in your arms. The top of your uterus is about 7 inches (or a little more) above your belly button. Your baby continues to wiggle around, but large movements can be quite uncomfortable for you. It’s a good idea to keep track of your baby’s movements and call your doctor or midwife if you notice any drop in frequency or change in the pattern.

A little catch-up in blog land....

Last time I tried to post here, blogger told me I ran out of space. Go figure! Hopefully this post will go through!

Well I wanted to back post a bit before I got sick with the kidney stone.

Over Sunday 8/6 we had the Fisher family reunion. I got these really nice family photos of Joey, Joe and I. It's at a local park in Troy and they have a nice stream that bypasses the park. It was nice to see the family and I got a lot of comments about me being so preggo. I just sat around a bit and relaxed. Luckily the weather was nice.

Afterwards we went home for Joey to take a nap. Once we all woke (including me and Joe) we went to my parent's house where I took these photos below of their gardens and Joey frog catching. It's so nice to see my parents!

For my birthday we went out early and bought ourselves a 75 gallon fish tank. I LOVE it. It's what I've always wanted and Joe and I are really getting back into fish. Joe loves having it downstairs and watches them while he watches tv.

Yesterday I went to my parents house and they took me to Art Van to get a recliner for an early Christmas gift for Joe and I. They spent WAYYY more than I wanted them to, and I offered to pitch in but they would have none of it. It's our first real new piece of furniture we've ever owned. It's an oversized plush chair. They got it for me because they know I'll be sleeping in it after the c-section and want me to be comfortable. What an awesome early Christmas gift! This is exactly what we got. It's soooo comfortable and it's oversized so our feet don't hang over the edge. I can't wait to get it delivered on Tuesday! It's like a huge papasan. We got it in this sage green color too.

Tonight after we got home we took a quick trip to the playgroup to give Joey some fun time this evening. Afterwards we went to the store to buy some candles, and then we went ahead and put candles on the cake that Joe's mom and Grandma brought to our house for my birthday, which I wasn't able to enjoy because I was on my way to the hospital for the 3rd time. We put the candles on the cake and let Joey blow them out after we sang 'Happy birthday to mommy' song. What a fun evening!

Our new fish tank - 75 gallon.

Joe and Joey at the family reunion.

Joey playing in the same at the family reunion.

Joe and Joey at the family reunion.

Joe and Joey walking down the path at the family reunion.

Me and Joey at the family reunion!

My dad and Joey holding a zuchini from the garden!

Joe and Joey wrestling!

My brother Greg and Joe looking for frogs for Joey.

The DQ Ice cream cake. Yum.

Joey and myself posing with my birthday cake.

Joey blowing out the candles for me.

Joey trying the first piece.

Me enjoying the cake.

37 weeks preggo!

To say this week has been uneventful would be a lie.

At 5am on Thursday I awoke with major pains in my side and back, thinking it was labor. I went to triage to find out it's kidney stones, which didn't go away until Sunday, which resulted in three separate visits to the hospital. I was on non-stop pain meds from Thursday morning until Sunday just after midnight. Thankfully everything on the fetal monitor said the baby was doing ok. We were able to get a second glimpse at the baby, and he's head down, he had no kidney problems (whew!) and he's jammed in there very tightly! The OB did a check on my when I first arrived on Thursday and said I haven't dialted at all.

I lost 5 lbs while in the hospital because I was too nauseous to eat.

I found out my c-section date has been moved to August 29th, it's not the 23rd anymore because my OB will be in China adopting a little girl, so I'll be delivering with another female doctor he works with that I haven't met. I plan to go back to work on Wednesday (I just got home from the hospital on Monday - my birthday).

My next OB appt is tomorrow morning. It was supposed to be on Friday but I was in the hospital.

Here's my latest photos of me at 37 weeks! I actually think the photo looks good!

37 weeks:

How your baby's growing: Congratulations! Your pregnancy is now considered full term — meaning your baby is developmentally ready to handle life outside the womb. (Babies born before 37 weeks are pre-term and those born after 42 weeks are post-term.) Your baby probably weighs a little over 6 pounds at this point and measures between 19 and 20 inches, head to heel.

Many babies have a full head of hair at birth, with locks from 1/2 inch to 1 1/2 inches long. But don't be surprised if your baby's hair isn't the same color as yours. Dark-haired couples are sometimes thrown for a loop when their children are born blonds or redheads, and fair-haired couples have been surprised by Elvis look-alikes. And then, of course, some babies sport only peach fuzz.

How your life's changing: The next couple of weeks are a waiting game. Use this time to prepare your baby's nursery or to take care of tasks you may not get around to for a while after your baby's born. Take naps and catch up on your reading while you can.

Have you noticed an increase in the frequency or vividness of dreams lately? Anxiety about becoming a parent can fuel a lot of strange pregnancy dreams.

You may be getting a lot more Braxton Hicks contractions now, and they may last longer and be more uncomfortable. Sometimes — when they start to come frequently — you may even think you're in labor. You might also notice an increase in mucus discharge from your vagina. If you see some "bloody show" (the mucus plug tinged with a tiny amount of blood), labor is probably right around the corner! (If you have other spotting or bleeding, call your caregiver immediately.)

This week of pregnancy, your baby is about 20½- 21 inches in length and weighs at least 6½ pounds. Your baby is now considered to be "full term" and if born now it’s unlikely that he or she would have any major complications, although your baby still continues to fill out and gain weight, but is not likely to grow in length too much more. Things are getting pretty tight inside the womb and it is becoming increasingly difficult for your baby to move around. The lanugo (fine hair) that has been protecting your baby's skin is wearing off and mostly gone. Your baby may still have a little Vernix (creamy coating) that has been covering his or her skin, but mostly confined to skin creases and folds.

The top of your uterus may be well over 6 inches from your belly button and your total weight gain is probably somewhere between 25-35 pounds. You are only three weeks away from your due date and you are most likely counting down the days (and possibly hours!) Remember that only about five percent of babies are born on their due date. You may be becoming anxious about the delivery of your baby and how you will cope, since your baby‘s arrival is not far off.

Soon, you may have your first internal exam (pelvic exam) to see if your cervix has softened, thinned (effaced), dilated and also if your baby's head has moved down into your pelvis. Also, as your cervix stretches and dilates, you may experience some bleeding, which is often referred to as “bloody show”. Along with a bloody show, you may pass a mucus plug at the onset of labor, although this doesn’t necessarily mean you will go into labor for sure. You could still go for days before labor begins. If you experience any of these things, you need to let your doctor or midwife know immediately.

Awww. It's my birthday!!

Should I change my blog to life's BIG moments? I tell you, I just can not catch a break.

I got home from the hospital on Friday, which is says below. Saturday I had a lot of pain but was able to tolerate it somewhat, taking vicodin every 4 hours around the clock.

2am on Sunday the pains got really bad but they finally subsided. I moaned for about a half hour that night in pain and poor Joe had to try to sleep through it all. I had taken vicodin but it really didn't help all too much. The only thing I could do was sleep on our recliner, which really sucked because it's really too small. The bed made everything like 500x worse and sitting up was the only way I could tolerate getting any sleep.

Sunday rolls around and Grandma and Joe's mom are on their way to our house to visit for my birthday. I was in a lot of pain again. I finally called my mother around 10am and said, mom, I just can't handle this pain and started to sob. She told me to call triage.

I called triage and they said to come on in. I called my mom back. I asked her to take me to triage. Joe's mother and grandmother were on their way over.

I called Joe's mom and asked where she was. She was just down the street. I told her I was going back to the hospital. I just couldn't handle the pain any longer.

When Joe's mother and grandmother got her, they came to see me. I was in so much pain. Joe's grandma started to cry when she saw me. I felt so bad. I was in so much pain.

When my mother got here, I nearly ran out the door. I did not say goodbye to anyone, I was not wearing a bra, I didn't give a crap what I looked like, I just wanted to get to the hospital. I could have gone naked. I just didn't care. I was soooo much in pain. Joey was going to go up north with Joe's mom and grandma so they could take care of them while I was in the hospital.

The drive was long - about a 1/2 hour or so. When we got there they had me sign a paper or two and then got me into triage. Now I know the drill. They have me undress, get into this gown with my butt hanging out and then I sit on this stretcher. Now this is the most uncomfortable stretcher ever - especially when you back hurts like a MOFO.... (if you don't know what that stands for, don't ask).

The first thing they tried to do was get an IV in my hand. Now they poked me about in 6 different veins since I was last there Thursday twice trying to find a vein. Her first attempt was bad. The vein blew and my hand started to blow up with IV fluid and it hurt like mad. It hurt enough to take away my back pain from my mind. She was hesitant to try again so she called in someone else who was also hesitant to try my vein. They finally called in a third person. I think an HOUR later someone finally got an IV in my hand, in the same exact vein from Thursday so it was a bit sore. Then afterwards they finally gave me some morphine. THANK GOD. Anything to take the edge off the pain. I was finally able to relax a little bit.

The OB came in and talked about stablizing me with meds and sending me home. I about came out of my skin pissed off. They already tried that TWICE!~They sent me home once with percocet which didn't help anything and that was why I came back the second time on Thursday. Then they sent me home with Vicodin, which helped for a day and then didn't even touch the pain Sunday when I got in. She was talking about sending me home with morphine or something. I told the nurse, who already knew me from the previous two visits, that I did NOT want to go home again. I told her they have such a hard time finding veins in my hands, and it's a long drive and I just want to fix the pain so I'm not coming in anymore! I was near tears. I did NOT want to go back home and have to keep doing this!!

So finally she came back and said they were going to admit me overnight. I was so relieved. Thankfully they also moved me to a real room with a real bed (or well, at least a hospital bed and not a stretcher). THANK GOD.

Later that afternoon they hooked me up with a morphine pump and my mom stayed awhile with me. She's been so good to me. She's driven me to the hospital, came over to stay with Joey on Thursday morning. She's modified her work schedule to be there for me. What a saint she has been!! Joe came in around 6-7pm. They were just sending me down for an X-ray. After that I got back in the room and they were sending me down for another ultrasound. Both showed nothing. They did find crystals in my urine, but no kidney stone.

They gave me a medicine to relax my ureter called procardia, which I guess is also given to help stop contractions. Joe stayed until 9pm and then went home. Urology came in and said they wanted to knock me out the next day, take me to the ER and put a scope up my bladder to see if there was anything in there, in the ureter or in the kidney. I was concerned for the baby but said if the OB said there was no risk to the baby, I was ok with it. I just wanted to get better! I prayed that this stupid kidney stone would go away and that I would not need surgery the next morning. I was kinda upset about it and had a hard time going to sleep because of it.

Around midnight I felt really really good, like no pain, nada. I never passed a stone, but I did feel better for some reason! I was soooo apprehensive! I was so sure the pain was going to come back. I told myself I would not use any morphine unless I was positive I had kidney pain. I went back to sleep. Around 3am I got up to use the restroom. I still had no pain. I ALWAYS had the worst pain around 2am. I could not believe it. I called in the nurse to tell her I felt really good and had no pain and told her I was so apprehensive about it, like I was so sure it would come back! I was so scared!

5am rolls around, still no pain. I'm so relieved but scared still that it's going to come back. I called the nurse again and told her I still had no pain. I told her that I did NOT want the procedure if I had no pain.

Around 6am both Urology and the OB came in at different times and agreed that if I still didn't have pain, they were NOT going to do the procedure. Whew!!!

Later that morning they took me off the morphine pump since I didn't use it, took me off IV fluids, capped my iv (so they still had the IV in my hand, but nothing hooked to it), and took me off the fetal monitors (which were excellent the whole time). I took a shower and relaxed. About 2pm they released me and my mom, who works at the hospital, left a little early to take me home.

It was weird to be home. My house was mostly clean (thank-you Joe!!), and it was weird to be home and not in pain for once. Joey was not there. I was so tired. I went to our bed and laid down. It was nice to sleep in my own bed and not be in pain there too.

My biggest concern is all the meds I've been on affecting the baby. I know the labor and delivery unit wouldn't have prescribed these meds had they had any ill effect on the baby, but you still worry about it. I mean, I was on non-stop pain meds since Thursday!! I finally got off of them cold turkey on Sunday just after midnight.

Of course today was my birthday. When Joe got home tonight we agreed to go out to dinner and went to TGI Fridays. I had a free appetizer on my Friday's card. I knew I wasn't going to eat a lot. I've lost 5 lbs since Thursday, and that's even weighing myself WITH clothes on and in the evening! I've had NO appetite at all until today. We had a good meal. Joe wanted them to embarass me so all the servers came out with balloons for my birthday. Most tied them on my fingers, one tied it in my hair (imagine a balloon hanging onto my hair - funny sight!) and one on my finger. Here I am with my birthday balloon collage. I don't look that great. I think it's a toll that it takes on you after you have been in the hospital for days!

Honestly, the best birthday gift I had was waking at midnight with no pain. I can finally get home, focus on family and just get back to my old self!

I thought I was in labor....

I went up to triage on Thursday morning because I woke up with a huge pain in my back that kept getting worse and I felt absolutely like dying. I mean at 5am I bolted out of bed with a pain in my back that was awful. It had to be labor. I knew that is what it had to be. That and I wanted to use the bathroom like 5 times in an hour. The pain was coming and going but the back pain was constant. I was having all the signs.

My mom luckily had not made it to work yet and came right over to my house to watch Joey.

Off I went to triage. I got checked in. I had no contractions. I had awful pain in my back on the left side and around the left side in the front. I thought they were absolutely nuts. They kept asking if I've ever had kidney stones or a bladder infection. I told them never.

Diagnosis - Kidney stones.

Let me tell you. Kidney stones is one of the worse pain you will ever experience. They took 5 times to finally get an IV in me and I didn't even care. I was in so much pain that getting any iv in my hand or wherever didn't even hurt. Finally the 5th time she called a lady who does awesome iv's, and she even had a hard time from keeping my veins from rolling and finally got it in. They gave me some morphine. At that point I was crying and nearly hysterical in pain.

A little later the morphine wore off and all I could do was moan in pain. I couldn't even cry anymore. My poor husband was out of his mind. I didn't want anyone to touch me to comfort me, I was just in so much pain. They finally gave me some more morphine.

Around 11am I wasn't in pain anymore. They next time I had pain they gave me percocet and that seemed to help so they sent me home thinking that percocet would help control the pain.

I took my next dose of percocet an hour early because I was in so much pain again at home. By this time my mother had already left the house to go home. I waited for the pain meds to kick in and they never did. I was in more pain now than I was at the hospital. We called triage and said we were coming back.

When I got in they told me I was staying overnight and I didn't care - as long as the pain went away. Joe ended up going home to relieve my mom from staying the night and to be with our son, who was extremely upset after we left the second time. It was fine with me, I was exhausted and was just going to sleep all night anyhow. Long story short - they set me up with a morphine pump and let me administer morphine myself whenever I had really bad pains. I believe I must have passed the stone sometime around 2am because afterwards I have not been in so much pain and I actually was able to sleep.

This morning they gave me vicodin for the pain since my back was still really sore but I didn't have to be on morphine anymore. They finally sent me home at 2pm.

All that said - I had two ultrasounds - one for my kidneys which didn't show stones but they said this was normal because they don't always show up on an ultrasound. The second ultrasound I had was of the baby to measure how big it was (which I still don't know) and to see how the kidney's are - which are fine thankfully (since my first son had kidney problems). All the medicine I was on made me nauseous so got sick both times to ultrasound while being wheeled around in a wheelchair.

I saw my doctor for 2 minutes before I left today because he happened to be on call at the hospital. He found out what happened to me because I missed my appt today at his clinic and it's not like me to miss it. He's adopting a baby from China and had not found out when he was leaving last I heard. I asked him before he left today to run to do another delivery and said that he's leaving this next Thursday. My c-section was scheduled for the 23rd so he won't be doing it UNLESS they move it to next week (which I am not sure they will do - I'll be 37 weeks) or his partner will do it, but his partner probably works different days. Everything is up in the air right now. My mom, who works at the hospital, has paged him to call me so I can try to get a date hammered out before my Tuesday appt next week since I have to line up a baby sitter and all that.

So I've had a very very eventful Thursday and Friday. I told close family I thought I was in labor, then told them I had kidney stones and now I have no clue when I'm delivering. And I figured out I would never wish kidney stones, even on my worst enemy!

36 weeks!

36 weeks now. I feel pretty good actually and can't really complain. Sure it's hot but jeez - it's summer people! It's really weird. My skin normally feels cold and clammy, but I'm normally really hot. I think that's normal.

Justin has been very active. This past week and last he's had hiccups, Not nearly as often as Joey had them but I can tell he's having them.

I feel a lot of pushing on my stomach. I'm assuming it's the baby, but it could be braxton hicks without pain. I'm not sure at this point.

Last night the baby moved so much in my stomach, it took my breath away because it hurt for a second. It was really weird. Tonight he's moving a lot and some of it is uncomfortable. He's just getting so big in there! I'm still craving egg sandwiches! :) Maybe all the protein from the eggs is making him huge! LOL.

I still feel pelvic pain when I sleep. Believe it or not, I drool when I sleep. I've been doing this since May, but forgot to post about it. Joe says I snore too, it has to be the extra weight I've gained because normally I do not snore.

The only thing I don't like is the extra fluid my body is retaining. My face is really puffy and people tell me I look exhausted. My ankles retain water but not nearly so bad as they were. I've been trying to swim like the doctor said and keep my feet up and take naps if I can.

My next appt is on Friday the 11th. 16 days until baby!

I finished up the nursery this week. The bed is all set, the clothes are all hung, the changing table is ready. The only thing I need to do is to pack a hospital bag!

36 weeks:
How your baby's growing: Your baby is still putting on the pounds — about an ounce a day. She now weighs almost 6 pounds and is a little less than 19 inches long. She's shedding most of the downy covering of hair that covered her body as well as the vernix caseosa, the creamy substance that covered and protected her skin during its submersion in amniotic fluid. Your baby swallows both of these substances, along with other secretions, which will stay in her bowels until birth. This blackish mixture, called meconium, will become her first bowel movement.

At the end of this week, your baby will be considered full-term. (Babies between 37 and 42 weeks are considered full-term; a baby born before 37 weeks is pre-term and after 42 is post-term.) Most likely she's in a head-down position by now, which is optimal for a smooth delivery, but if she isn't in the next week, your provider may suggest scheduling an "external cephalic version," which is a fancy way of saying she'll try to coax your baby into a head-down position manually, by manipulating her from the outside of your belly.

How your life's changing: While your baby continues to grow and crowd your internal organs, you may find that you're not as hungry as you were a few weeks ago. Smaller, more frequent meals are often easier to handle at this point. On the other hand, you may have less heartburn and have an easier time breathing when your baby starts to drop down lower in your pelvis. This dropping — called lightening or engagement — is more likely to happen before labor if this is your first baby. When it does, though, you may feel increased pressure in your lower abdomen, making walking increasingly uncomfortable. Some women say it feels as though they're carrying a bowling ball between their legs, or as if the baby is going to fall out. (Don't worry, she won't!)

You might also notice that your Braxton Hicks contractions are a little more frequent now. Be sure to review with your practitioner exactly when and where to call her when you think your labor has started. As a general rule, you should call when you start having regular contractions coming every five minutes for about an hour. Of course, you'll want to call right away if you're not yet 37 weeks and have signs of preterm labor. You should also call without delay if your water breaks (or if you even think you're leaking amniotic fluid), if you notice a decrease in your baby's activity, or if you have any vaginal bleeding, fever, severe headaches, abdominal pain, or changes in your vision.

During these last weeks of pregnancy, your baby puts on most of his or her weight and additional fat is being deposited under the skin. Your baby's little knees and elbows are beginning to developing dimples now and also creases are developing around his or her neck area. Your baby is still practicing sucking by sucking on his or her fingers. Your baby is probably resting in a head-down position at this point, but may possibly be in a breech (or head-up) position.

Your due date is rapidly approaching and you may feel as if you have run out of room now, since your uterus is up under your ribs. You may find that your weight is beginning to stabilize at this point or even that you have lost a pound or two. Some women still continue to gain about one pound per week, since every woman is different. You may begin seeing your doctor or midwife every week from now until delivery. Packing your hospital bag wouldn’t be a bad idea, if you haven’t done so already.

If this is your first baby he or she may move down into your pelvis, or the "engaged" position, around now. This is called "lightening" or "dropping". You may notice yourself when this happens because it will suddenly become much easier for you to breathe, but on the other hand, it may make your bathroom visits even more frequent.

You may call it nesting, I call it panicking!

I'm getting a little nervous about the baby going to make an appearance soon. My friend Meghan (see blog to right) is due the same time I am and she's ready for this little guy to come out NOW! I was like that for our first born too. Everything was fun and new!

This time I'm a bit nervous. It's like I forgot everything! I'm so used to sleeping all night. Back to those night time feedings, pumping around the clock (or nursing, whatever works out). I know what to expect and it's scary to go back to that. I have to say though, I get up like 4x a night to pee, so it can't be any worse than what I'm enduring now! LOL.

I'm very very excited to have another baby - that's for sure. We definitely wanted a second boy and can't wait to meet Justin. At the same time I know this one is a c-section and I've never had one before. I'm really really nervous about it. I'm also not looking forward to the tough road ahead at weight watchers to get back down to my goal weight. People keep telling me that I will get back there quickly, but I just don't know. It was so hard. There are a lot of challenges ahead of us, for sure!

Cute story - I have this mole on the very top of my rib cage and because my stomach has expanded, well so has the mole. Joey will pull up my shirt most everyday, and find that mole and say, 'Hi baby Justin'. He thinks the baby is my mole! How cute is that!!!?

Today I got the nursery all set. We moved the changing table where it needed to go and moved around other items in the nursery where it needed to go. I unpacked all the diapers I had leftover from Joey and put them in the changing table. I unpacked all the bottles. I looked at the cute clothes I have hanging in the closet. I can not believe it's less than 20 days away. I'm sooo nervous! Will this baby be like Joey? Will this baby be totally different? Grandma keeps telling me this baby will be just like 'Justin' :) . What wise knowledge she has. I have to learn NOT to compare them. They are each individual, unique people! I'm actually waiting for the library to get in a few books I put on hold. One of them is about introducing a second baby to the family. I can't wait to read it. I love reading parenting books and magazines for some reason!

Today we went and bought Joe's car officially. We love the dealership we worked with - Bloomfield Honda in Bloomfield Hills, MI. It was a WONDERFUL experience. At the end when we were signing papers Joey was having a minor meltdown from probably being bored and a bit hungry. The lady in the office next door let him play with some of the McDonalds cars from the 'Cars' movie and that quieted him right down. The whole experience was so nice. Oh and the funniest thing - anyone who buys a car from there gets to bang on the GONG. We told Joey he gets to hit the gong and he kept saying ' I get to hit the gong'. I wish I brought my camera. They turned on these flashing red lights on top of the gong, someone started to shake a cowbell for extra noise and they gave Joey this huge black mallet to hit the gong. Joey stepped back, took a running start and WHACKED the gong in this huge BONG>... rang out. It was soooo damn funny. And he kept hitting it and hitting it. What a sport. It was seriously the funniest thing we've ever seen! Everyone was clapping for him and he was totally enjoying the attention!

We ended up getting a carfax on the car, which I was a little nervous about but it's perfectly fine! Nothing on the car. Joe LOVES the car. What a deal we got on it too. It was perfectly detailed inside too. Joey wanted to ride home with Joe in the new car so off they went home.

We had a nice time at home today, mostly relaxing. We found out there is a bee's nest IN the ground in our front yard so Joe had to go get some bee killer from the store. Joey and I almost got stung before Joe saw it! We were going to mow the grass today but not at this point!

I made Joe's favorite Shrimp fried rice for dinner tonight and he made steak and fries for lunch. Overall, we had a great day!

Swimming, eating out, ice cream and bubbles. What a fun day!

Let me preface this by saying all this happened after 5pm today when I got out of work!!

Today was a night where Joe wasn't coming home until late because he was playing baseball, so I tried to make plans with my friend Jen, who's husband was also out of town/busy. So we decided to go to the pool again and she invited her friend Jeanine and her son Jacob.

I got to daycare, picked up Joey and we went to the high school pool. We met Jen, her son Thomas, Janine and her son Jacob. Joey gets so excited when he sees his little friends! We all got dressed and went swimming again. We had a great time. Joey is getting so confident in the water. I'm trying to teach him the basics of swimming, ie kicking his legs, and he's doing a wonderful job. There was one part where he was standing on this ledge on the water, he slipped, went face first, and I immediately pulled him out and and it didn't even phase him at all. I couldn't believe it. I thought he would look upset or something but he was totally fine!

After the pool we went to Leo's Coney Island for dinner. I got Joey the chicken nuggets meal with french fries, I got a chicken fingers pita and chili cheese fries (yum) and the rest of us ordered our meals and we chatted. Joey ate 7 chicken nuggets, 2 small glasses of sprite and some fries. I could not believe how hungry he was. He was also very very well behaved at the restaurant!

After that we decided to walk down the street for ice cream. I got a shake and shared it with Joey because I knew that would be easier to eat than an ice cream cone, which it was.

Afterwards we came home and I got out the bubbles. Marie at work gave me this huge jug of bubbles and it has a wand that blows big bubbles so Joey and I took turns making really big bubbles. He's getting really good at blowing in general - ie. making a pinwheel spin by blowing, blowing bubbles, and different things like that which he wasn't able to do before!

Here are some photos of tonight where he was blowing bubbles. BTW - yes his hair is shorter. Joe cut it last night and it look sooo much better. It was getting really really long and needed a trim. Joey hates getting it done but we do it anyhow when it needs it!

Tomorrow we are off to pick up the car! Fun fun!!

We bought a car!

Tonight we went to another Honda dealer to see if they could give us a better deal than the last dealer on the Civic 06 model. They didn't even have any in stock! I guess these have been selling so well they have to order them for people who want them.

SOOOO after the salesman told us that he could get us one in stock and we were walking back to the showroom, he casually mentioned a used civic that was an 04, 14,700 miles and he told me the price but I don't remember it off the top of my head. Joe and I looked at each other like, I think we should check this car out.

So Joe test drove it, liked it, put an offer of $15,200 out the door on it and the guy came back and said, 'Congrats, the car is yours!'. It was almost too easy! We loved the salesman. He was maybe about our age, a bit older and was not pushy at all and was very personal. The last two salesman we talked to were very very pushy. We filled out the paperwork and we are going to pick it up on Saturday. This is a photo of what the car looks like above.

The deal was so easy that poor Joe was doubting himself the whole way home because he thought he overbid. We went to Kelly Blue Book and looked the retail for it and it said $16,860. The car wasn't even on the lot yet. They just got it in as a trade and made it a used certified vehicle so we got it even before it hit the lot. After Joe saw the actual price he felt even better about how much we got it for. For once we didn't feel like we got screwed by a car salesman! This is such a load off our minds!! Oh and Joey was soooo good for both the times we went to the dealerships. He's such a wonderful child!

I think the funniest thing of the whole transaction was the salesman was dying to touch my stomach. I let him and thought it was funny. He was so excited about it he said he was going to go home and tell his wife that he thought they were ready to have children. He was asking Joe for advice on going to school and having children at the same time. He was a nice guy.

Other than that, yesterday we went looking for fish tanks. I want a 50 gallon or more fish tank for my birthday and we checked about 4 pet stores and couldn't find exactly what I was looking for. Of course Joey has a blast because he gets to see all the pets and fish in the stores we have been visiting.

Tuesday I had a after work function with work and that went great. Joey came with me and everyone could not believe how well behaved he was. I was so proud of him. He's a great child. One of my co-workers, who can not stand kids who do not behave, even came up to me today to tell me how wonderful Joey acted. He stayed occupied with different things, we weren't worried about him falling in the pool, he wasn't running around being disrespectful, he ate a hot dog and was good about it, he was just a good child! Can you tell how proud of him I am!?

Here is a photo of me on Wednesday with my new knit top and my gouchos. They were sooooo comfortable I could live in them!

20 days left until c-section!! Augh!! It's coming up very quickly!

Fun weekend!

Friday we left early to go up to see Grandma! It had been about 3 weeks since we have visited so it was long overdue! We got up there about 8 or 9 which is fairly early for us!! Joey was already asleep.

Saturday was a busy day. We had to go to Walmart to get me some more shorts/shirts sets because I outgrew mine!! Joey got a new Thomas train - Edward!

Afterwards we went to get the oil changed in the van. It was about 1000 miles overdue so we were glad to have that done.

We were going to take Joey to see the animals at the Tuscola County Fair but it was $10/per person admission and we thought that was a bit steep for only going for an hour or so. Not to mention it was in the 90's for the temps!

After Joey laid down to take a nap Joe and I left the house to go on a 'date'.

Poor Joe! Our date consisted of going to three different stores so I could find more maternity clothes to wear. It's kinda hard to stretch what I have currently when you are working in a professional environment. It's not like you can wear the same thing twice in the same week. I found some nice clothes at Kohls and Target.

The other highlight of the day was Joe and I got our hair cut. I got a few inches off and got it trimmed and it looks sooooo much better than my nappy hair below in my preggo photo. It was getting out of hand. I hated it and it looks so much better now! Joe's looks nice too. He got his cut really short on top and it looks great.

Then off to our favorite place - Red Lobster for dinner! I love eating there. We got clam chowder soup, a salad with our meal, an order of coconut bay shrimp - yum, and by the time my meal came out, I only ate two bites and took the rest home. I was so full by then!!

So we had a nice date. Joe and I were just happy to get out of the house and go out to eat!

Sunday - Relaxed and didn't do too much. The photo above of both boys bending over is where they were picking up stones to throw into the woods. Joey also was riding his tricycle which is shown in the photo above and to the left.

Joey and Joe took advantage of the weather and went outside on his bike. These photos are of when he went riding down the hill. He had so much fun riding down the small hill that we had him go down the BIG hill. He looked happy when he did but we couldn't gethim to go down it again. I did some scrapbooking and got some new pages done. I'll post those later this week.

Monday - Joe and I both had to work. After work I picked up Joey and met Jen and Thomas at the high school pool. We all had a blast. Thomas and Joey were a bit apprehensive of the water at first but an hour later were fine with it. Joey and I played 'fish' where I picked him up and dunked him up and down in the water up to his chin and kept singing 'fish' 'fish'. We had a blast!

That night Joe wanted to go to a few car dealerships. We went to one in Northville but they hardly had any Honda Civics and that is what we were looking to buy! The salesman was kinda shady too. First they only had one civic, then three more were right there. We were like, ok?

The next dealership we went to we test drove a used civic, and then an 06 civic and the 06 was really really nice. We got into negotiations with the salesman and 2 hours later finally left. It was past 10pm, Joey still needed to go to bed (and he was wonderful the whole time!!!) and we were sick and tired of getting lines and they wouldn't negotiate on price at all. First the car we wanted just got sold, then he said he could probably get us the EX (top of the line) for the same amount, got Joe all excited about it, only to find out the guy who decides yay or nay and tells the person we are dealing with that he would only knock $500 off the price. Joe told him this was like a 'bait and switch'. Then he wanted to sell us the car he just told us they had a hard time selling because of the white interior and talked that up. Then he said he could get us a civic from another dealership. Joe and him agreed on a price, the the price went up. Finally we told him we were interested. If he could give it to us for $18,500 out the door we were interested, but they wouldn't even knock $400 off the price. They wanted $18,900. Then they kept saying, today's the last day of the sale. Today's the end of the month. We finally just left. We were so pissed off! So tonight we are going back to another dealership to see what they have. I think, after yesterday, we talked ourselves into the new civic. They are so much nicer than the older ones.

So that is what has been going on. We are busy as usual! 22 days until baby!

Joey riding his bike down the small hill.

Joey throwing stones. A favorite past time!

Joey laughing as he goes down the hill.

The boys down by the lake, throwing stones.

Boys down by the lake.

Can you tell he loves going down the hill on his hot wheels bike?

Riding the hot wheels!

This is the BIG hill we had him go down.

I think he enjoyed it and steered the bike really well (I was at the bottom taking photos) but he would not go down again, which surprised us because he is a dare devil to some extent!

Joey and his bike and daddy watching. He was not going back down the big hill!