Tomorrow is the day!

We took another trip to the doctor today which I was kind of dreading but kind of excited about at the same time because I know that the end is near. One of the first things out of her mouth was that she had already scheduled me for induction on Friday when I hadn't called to say I was in labor. We will be going into the hospital tomorrow night at 7pm so that they can administer one drug overnight while we are sleeping after which they will give me the second drug by early Friday morning. If all goes well, we should have Karsten in our arms by late Friday afternoon. I am going to be so excited to not be pregnant anymore and to have him in my arms. The only bad thing is that I have to eat a really good meal before we go to the hospital tomorrow and after that I can't eat anything but popsicles and ice chips so Brice is going to take me out for my last pregnant dinner at the Cheesecake Factory and then all we have to do is go up the block to the hospital and have this kid. We should be able to come home by monday after which we should have a lot of pictures to post. Please keep us in your thoughts and prayers during this exciting time for us.

The last update

As many of you already know, we made a trip to the hospital on Friday thinking I was in active labor when it turns out to be what they call prodromal labor....I guess it's the pre-labor of labor and people like to call it false labor but it does actually have a purpose. Since then I just really have not felt much like myself, had my birthday on Saturday and we just spent it together inside the house. I really don't feel at all like talking to people so if anybody has tried calling me, I have kind of purposefully not answered my phone - I just really want to spend some time by myself and will update after we actually have some good news. Until then, I don't think I will be blogging at all, I just really have absolutely no desire or anything real to talk about.

Still nothing

I took a trip to the doctor again today and still have absolutely nothing to report. The doc said there really hasn't been any change and he stripped my membranes again - hopefully this time it will work! All of this waiting is killing me and I'm starting to get really impatient. I just want to get it all over with! Of course, it isn't going to be any easier after the doctor said that he would like to see me delivered by this time next week. I guess only time will tell. Please send some labor prayers my way because I am totally stir crazy and I REALLY don't want to keep going to work and getting all of the "you're still here?" comments.

Nothing new to report

The waiting continues! We still have no baby to report and I am getting so tired of waiting - I would say that this waiting is much worse than waiting for the positive pregnancy test months ago. The ladies I work with were convinced that Karsten would be coming out this weekend but obviously, they were wrong yet again. We went to the OB on Wednesday and there had really been no change. He did strip my membranes which works on some women to help them go into labor....I'm obviously one of the women that it doesn't work on! The doc we've been seeing since my doc is on maternity leave had his weekend on call and I was kind of hoping it would be this weekend so we could have him but it's Sunday now and I have had no contractions....not even one! Last weekend I at least had a couple a day but ever since then I've had nothing. I think I've come to realize that I'm not really upset that he hasn't decided to come out yet, I'm more upset about having to show my face at work tomorrow when I would much rather wait out the rest of my time at home. I guess I'll just make the best out of it - hopefully the days will go faster by having to get up in the morning and go somewhere. I'll keep the updates coming....hopefully the next one will be pictures of the baby.

Another trip to the orchard

Brice and I decided to go on another trip to the orchard to get another staple of fresh apples. This time we decided to go to an orchard that he used to go to with his parents called Minnesota Harvest. I'm not quite sure if it is my favorite orchard to visit although there are lots of horses and ponys and a small petting zoo. The orchard is quite a bit larger than Emma Krumbees and they take you on a tractor ride into the orchard to pick which was fun but the didn't have any farmers market kind of stuff that I was kind of hoping to see. I really wanted to either get some gordes or mums for our front walk but they had nothing like that except pumpkins. I do have to say that their bakery items were really good! I decided to get a carmel apple crunch pastry - it was almost as big as a large to go container. Don't believe me? Here's the proof!

Here are some pictures of us out in the orchard. I was so proud of myself because I actually remembered the camera for once!





After we got home, Brice decided to declare war on all of the box elder bugs that have decided to come back terribly again this year. He sprayed all of the ones we had inside with a home made mixture of dishsoap and water which surprisingly works. After doing that he made his way outside but I'm not quite sure what good it did but to make them all mad and now we have even more that have somehow come into the house. That will be an on-going battle until it gets cold enough to kill all of the bugs.

The baby is trying to make his way out, it might be a little slower than I would like but I'm positive that it won't be much longer. I did get woken up a couple of times this morning with a mild contraction but there have been no others. We took a walk around the neighborhood again tonight to help get him moving down - I'm hoping that it actually works. I know that something is working because I do have a lot more pressure in my pelvis which is a good sign! I'm hoping he decides he's done cooking soon because I don't know if I can honestly hold up until the 26th. We will keep everyone updated!

Another doc appointment

Brice and I made another trip to the OB today to check my progress. Everything still looks good, heart rate is good, head is down and can be felt by the doc and I am now almost 3cm (he had to call it 2+ because it's not quite there) dilated. I can, at this point, go into labor at any time and the baby should be just fine, there is no risk of him being pre-mature. We'll be doing a lot of walking and chores around the house to help gravity out a little bit (because, it would be lovely if he decided he was done cooking early!). Other than that, there is really nothing to report other than getting a flu shot (my arm is feeling the after-effects) and not really having any real contractions under my belt, just the fake ones that basically do crap. My bag at this point is all packed and ready to go except for the last minute items like my eye glasses and the camera so we should be all set there. I am so anxious I just can't stand it anymore....I want him to come out!!!!

The countdown begins.....

I had another doctor appointment today and everything looks good. I am already 2cm dilated - the doc said that because I have such an early start I won't have to worry about being late but it also sounds like there is a good chance that I may be early. The only thing he could really pinpoint for me is that I should have at least another 2 weeks. If this is true, I need to get going and get my bag packed and all of my last minute stuff done (I have a few clothing items to wash along with the crib sheets, the pacifiers need to be sterilized and the car seat installed in both cars). The room is now pretty much done. We put the rocking chair together on Sunday (thanks to my mom and dad for that purchase), I got the pictures hung yesterday along with all of the toys put away in the book shelf. I realized after hanging all of the pictures that we don't have enough! There is a great big naked piece of the wall between the dresser and the crib so Brice is going to go find a picture to hang there.

Since everyone has been asking for pictures of the nursery, no need to wait any longer....I finally took some today!






I think I'm going to be off to bed real early tonight. For some odd reason I'm completely wiped out and by back is killing me. Uncomfortable? I think that's and understatement.

Almost finished!

So, Brice and I had our last child birth class on monday which ended up being very informative because one of the pediatritians from the practice we are choosing came in to speak to the class. Talk about overload of information! There is so much to talk about but not enough time to talk about it so we got a brief overview of what to expect after giving birth and all that good stuff. The lady giving the class was so nice that she bought a cake and treats for our last day....she called it celebrating a birthday although nobody was close to giving birth yet.

Last night, we took a tour of the hospital's maternity ward. For those of you interested, we will be having the baby at Fairview Southdale. We have decided that we aren't going to have any visitors there since we really won't be there very long and honestly, I don't want to be around anybody after just giving birth. Once we are home though we are expecting gads of people to come over to the house to visit. The one good thing is that the hospital has wireless internet for the patients to use while there so we will be able to blog and post pictures pretty much right away so there should be no having to wait for your baby fix! I am pretty much done with everything that needs to get done....I filled out the pre-reg form and faxed that in this morning and the only thing left is to get a few essentials for my hospital bag and to actually pack my bag and I'm ready. I'm going to be prepared long in advance because I don't want to be caught off guard.

Saturday review

I had a pretty good day today. Woke up around 8 and watched some news, ate some cheerios and watched a little fun animal shows and a little bit of Mythbusters (this is our favorite show.....if you have never seen Mythbusters on Discovery, I highly recommend it, it is a show the whole family will enjoy). I finally decided to get out of my comfy flannel pj's which almost don't fit around my belly anymore and got ready for a baby shower that my friend Donna held for me at her house. She had wonderful food! She decided to go with brunch and made this egg bake that had croissants for crust, eggs, potatoes, cheese and sausage in it.....mmmmm, that was really tasty! She also had all of the decorations, plates and napkins all Noah's Ark - it was so cute! Of course, I forgot my camera because Brice was rushing me out of the door so fast that I don't have any pictures. There were just a few people that showed up but it was a fun time. I got to see my aunt Barb and my cousin Courtney and my friend Allison who I have not seen in forever so that was really nice. Since I didn't get any pictures of the shower, I decided to take a picture of one of the gifts that I got. Donna got this great bouncy seat for the baby that actually vibrates and plays music. I decided to put it together once I got home and it is so cute!


Brice and I decided to make beer can chicken on the grill tonight for dinner. Of course, I go out to check it after an hour and there is no flame left in the grill and we were 5 degrees away from it being done so we had to bring it in the house and finish it in the oven but it turned out really well.

Brice decided that he wanted pictures of his hand, stitches and all, to put up on his blog. I promised him that I would not post them here so if any of you want, I am going to send you over to his blog to check it out.

Well, that's all for now. Tomorrow is church day and after that I'm going to spend some time in Karsten's room and hopefully get everything done....I have curtains to hang, the rug to vacuum, the furniture put where it goes and pictures to hang. Hopefully I can get that done and post pictures of the finished product for you all to see.

Baby and Daddy

First line of business today is baby. We had another appointment yesterday and had an ultrasound to measure my little guy to make sure he wasn't too big since I'm measuring weeks ahead of what I should be. The ultrasound estimated his weight to be 5lbs and 4oz and he ranks in the 61st percentile. He has a head that is on the large side of average, his tummy measurements are dead on and his leg measurements are on the small side of average. The doc said if it weren't for the size of his head that he would be dead on at the 50th percentile. We got a few pictures of him, one of the bottom of his foot, his leg and one of the side of his face with his hands in front of his mouth which he would not move so we could get a good look at his face (he wasn't liking the ultrasound much!). I don't have pictures to post now because our printer is well, doing what printers do best so I'll try to get those up soon. Also, the ultrasound tech said that we are absolutely having a boy, all parts are there as expected! Brice can now stop saying what would happen if we have a girl.

Second line of business is Brice. He did his first dressing change last night and finally counted all of the stitches.....there are 22 total! He's of course, having problems doing everyday things because it is on his right hand and he is right handed. I had to put his shoes on for him yesterday, pick him up at home to go to the doctor, make dinner, do the dishes, wash and fold all of his laundry.....I was pretty exhausted last night after all of that. Today he is going to try to venture out for a while with the car; hopefully he is careful to try to not use his right hand much. He said that he's been in a lot of pain this morning but he took some medicine and should be feeling better.

Well, that's all for now. Hopefully there will be nothing exciting to say from now until Saturday which marks the very last baby shower that is on my schedule. Hopefully we get lots of stuff that we still desperately need!

Motherhood....trials and tribulations

Everything had been going so well and we thought we would start our wonderful role as parents with not a care in the world....until I hit the brick wall. I had to have a meeting this week with a couple of the managers at work so that they could give me a verbal warning about being sick too many times....yea you heard me right, what kind of crap is that???? #1 - I get sick quite often #2 - I have a personal philosophy that you don't go to work when you are sick so you don't spread it to other people and #3 - I'm pregnant, I have to take care of myself and I can't use all of the possible energy I have when I'm not feeling well to go to work and then who knows what would happen? I'm not going to put my unborn child at that kind of a risk. So at this "meeting" I was told that I shouldn't come to work when I'm sick but that I SHOULD come to work anyway if I'm sick.....ummmm, yea, whatever. So then I decide to ask what is going to happen before and after my maternity leave. I asked very politely to spend the last week or two working at home and I got the "No because if we do it for you we have to do it for everyone else"....ummm, I'm the only one in my department pregnant. Then I got the, "well, we can't have you working at home because it's a HIPPA violation"....yea, I'm not giving you credit on this one either because it's not any more a HIPPA violation to work in an office building than it is in a home. So then, I asked to work 4 ten hour days when I come back from leave and I got the same crap excuse....yea I got a big fat pile of poop at work yesterday and I have not been happy about it because it screws up all of the plans that Brice and I had set to take care of the baby.

All of this of course, makes me feel like crap and I feel like it is all my fault and it's impossible for me not to be upset about it (of course, the horomones probably don't help the situation any). I feel lied to and used at work....I took that job because I knew that we would be starting a family and the options were there for flexible working hours and possibly working from home only to find out now that apparently the office I work in doesn't follow those corporate policies. So, of course, that gets the wheels turning - is it worth to continue to work after the baby is born if I can't have what I thought I was going to? Do I try to transfer to a different department that would allow me to have a more flexible schedule? Do I try going down to part time? What is going to be the best situation for all of us? I wish that I could just stop working for now but that just isn't going to be possible because we don't have enough income coming from Brice in order to pay all of the bills and be able to eat (ah, the crummy income of a paramedic!) so I have to keep working. Do I keep my job or do I decide that I'm going to stop working for corporate America to work for a more mommie friendly company? Am I over-reacting? Is the stress of there only being 8 weeks left getting the best of me? I don't know what the answers to all of those questions are. All of this is tough enough for me but then I have to deal with my always worrying about having enough money of a husband and with the fact that my short term disability policy at work only pays for 6 weeks of wages when I get a total of 12 off through FMLA....where is the cash for an extra 6 weeks off of work going to come from???? It's been a rough couple of days.

I have so many things going through my head right now that I don't know what I should be feeling. I already feel as though I have failed my son because I thought I had everything all set and ready for his arrival. I feel as though my employer has let me down and I have lost hope of ever enjoying my work again. I feel angry and upset that we now have to come up with an alternate way of taking care of the baby when both of us are at work (nanny or daycare?) when all we wanted to do was to take care of him ourselves. Will things eventually work out? Yes, but not without a little extra cash out of the wallet and a little less time watching my son grow. I think that is what is upsetting me the most....I just want to be there for him day in and day out and watch the little miracle that we created explore, learn and grow. I know that I'll probably always feel that way but I think this is the most difficult thing I have had to deal with my whole life. I can't wait for him to make his appearance but I don't think I'm going to want to leave him after that.

The wonders of pregnancy

I felt like I was having a really wonderful pregnancy until the past few days. I have just started getting the joint pain in the hips that makes you feel like you've done nothing but run a marathon and you can't move after you get up out of your chair. To top that off, I am a complete klutz! Today I was walking up the stairs from the cafeteria and ran into the wall next to the stairs which made the top to my glass fall off and it hit the floor and spilled and then the bottom blew out (it was a styrofoam cup). So I picked up what was left and finished walking back to my desk. After I got to my desk, I happened to spill what was remaining in the glass all over myself.....ahhhhh! What a wonderful time I had today! I would still say that all of the pain is worth it - in the end I'm going to have a wonderful, beautiful baby boy that is all my own!

Another day at the doctor

I had another doctors appointment today that went really well. I had to do the gestational diabetes test where I had to drink the really sugary sweet McDonalds type orange drink but 5 times as potent. My nurse told me to just down it all in one drink and I should have listened to her because after the first 2 smaller drinks, the last one went down VERY sweet. After that we saw my doctor who is actually in her last week of work because she is having her first baby as well which I found out is also a boy. She said that she has actually seen more boys born lately than girls - in the past few months she said she has seen about 3 girls and all the rest were boys. That's interesting to know because we heard on the news not long ago that there are statistically more girls being born than boys. So at my next visit I have to see a different doctor which we found out, actually attends all of her deliveries which will be very nice - Brice has been worried about having a doctor that we have never seen delivering the baby. After we saw the doctor, we had to wait for another half an hour so that the lab could read my blood work after all of the sugar they had me ingest. Turns out, I passed with flying colors. The lab tech said that I have hemoglobin numbers like someone who isn't pregnant and my blood sugar was in the 80s which is really good because they just want you to be under 140. Oh yea, when they weighed me, I have only gained another 2 pounds so that puts me up a whopping 3 pounds that I have gained so far....I'm REALLY happy with that number. Hopefully I can keep it on the low side so that I can actually weigh quite a bit less after the baby is born. Well, that's all for now. Brice and I are going to try to finish hanging the wallpaper up in Karsten's room tonight so we can get it cleaned up and bring the crib over from his dad's house. Once it is all done, I will post some pictures of the finished product.

Baby's room is getting complete

So, Brice and I went shopping yesterday for a rocking chair for the baby's room and ended up coming home with crib bedding. We had actually settled on a different pattern than what we wanted because they didn't have exactly what we were looking for at Babies R Us. Well, we were at Sears yesterday and found Noah's Ark bedding in the right color scheme we were looking for so we bought that, an extra bed sheet and a mobile. Babies R Us doesn't have the exact same design so we can get the matching blanket, window valance, rug, lamp....stuff like that and they don't have all of that at Sears either - I'll just have to mix and match different sets but it should end up looking fine. Here is what the set looks like - I think it will go really well with the blue and purple walls.

If anyone would like, there is a blanket that I would like to go with this set and I've only found it on the Sears website so it should be in the stores as well....hint, hint!
Brice is off today to see Spamalot with his dad - I'm sure he'll be talking about that one for a while! Other than that, we don't have much going on. We need to finish hanging the wallpaper border in the room and then start cleaning up so we can set up the room. I have a doctor's appointment tomorrow where I have to do the gestational diabetes test - I've heard the sugery stuff they give you to drink is not really all that great so we'll see how it goes. Only 3 months left until Karsten makes his appearance - I can't believe how fast the time has gone!

Sleep Deprivation

So I've been home from work for the past 2 days because I have been hit with some pretty severe insomnia. I've had it on and off throughout the pregnancy but the stuff I have this week is really bad. I've gotten about 2-3 hours of sleep every night since about Sunday. By yesterday I was so exhausted that I didn't feel it was safe for me to even try to go into work. I did manage to get a couple of naps in yesterday (about an hour and a half each) but it did not help much. I was really exhausted by the time bedtime rolled around I thought that I might actually sleep some....wrong!!! By the time I fell asleep it was sometime inbetween midnight and 1am and I woke up at 3am. I was not happy about that. Of course, I stayed in bed until my alarm went off so I could get to work but I found myself in the same exhaustive state I was in yesterday. Brice had just gotten home from work and after cuddling and talking about what I should do he suggested that I really needed more rest. So, I decided to stay home today as well. Brice must have been the help that I needed to get some rest because I slept for a whole 5 hours in a row without waking up. I actually felt better after that. I still feel pretty groggy and without much energy but am feeling better than I did yesterday. I think I will try to go into work for at least a while tomorrow to get some work done. Hopefully I can put all of this behind me and get back to normal.

Baby Shower Info

So, Brice's family is throwing us a baby shower next month and some of you might have already gotten an invitation in the mail already or should be getting one in the next few days. I want to clarify that the whole family is welcome to attend, this is not a female only shower because I have never thought that it is fair that the men aren't usually allowed to come. It is basically going to be a great big family get together which hopefully should be really fun. There will be food and hopefully some sort of dessert to eat. There will be NO shower games which I have always thought are tacky and dumb. There are some people that were invited that we aren't expecting to come that are right in between the 2 venues we will be having showers at and we didn't want to leave anyone out....don't feel obligated to make the trip to the cities. Also, Brice wanted me to let everyone know that gifts are not necessary but if you would like to get us a gift, we are registered at Babies R Us (I put a link to the right at the top of the page). If you can't make it, feel free to mail us anything at anytime!

I hope we have a really great turn out - I'm looking forward to seeing family and friends that we don't really get to see a whole lot.

Update

I had another doctors appointment yesterday and everything looks good! The heartbeat on my little guy was in the 130's and I have only gained 1 pound....I can't tell you how pleased I am about that number! The doc said that if I just gain small amounts of weight I will probably end up losing 15 pounds after I deliver and end up weighing less than I did when we conceived - that sounds great to me! My doctor is pregnant as well and is due early next month and she said she has gained over 50 pounds and is not very happy with that number but I think she looks great. If all goes well with her I should be able to see her again in 4 weeks if she doesn't deliver early and she probably won't be back in time to deliver me but I'm ok with that....doctors have to have babies too! At the next appointment I have to do the gestational diabetes test and I'm sure that one will come out fine. I called this morning to schedule Brice and I for the childbirth class....I can't believe that it is time for that already!

Tonight, if the weather cooperates, we will be watching the fireworks in Bloomington since Brice doesn't want to stay up tomorrow night to watch them (he has to work early the next day). It's raining now but I'm hoping that it will let up a bit.

I hope all of you have a wonderful July 4th holiday!

Pregnancy Laziness

Well, I have not posted for a really long time! I guess I have better things to occupy my time with lately....well, that and our internet at home NEVER works. We need to get a new plan for that!

So as you all probably already know from reading Brice's blog, we are having a little boy! His name (which after Brice changing his mind about 3 or 4 times) has finally settled to Karsten Brice. When we had the ultrasound at week 19 he weighed about 11oz and is perfectly healthy! He has been a very active little guy, kicking constantly! I've discovered that he really likes coffee - I took a trip to Caribou the other morning and forgot to order decaf and he was pretty crazy the rest of the day! His room is getting done little by little. We cleared all of the stuff out of it, I painted it pretty much by myself because I was tired of waiting for Brice to say he was ready and now all we have to do is put up the wallpaper and wait for presents to come to finish it off. Speaking of presents, Brice and I are registered at Babies R Us. I know that there aren't any in all of good 'ol NoDak but much of what we have on there is available online which is great! To view our registry, click here.
As of today, I am currently in the 23rd week which is around the end of the 5th month, beginning of the 6th and I am getting more excited by the day for him to make his appearance!

I think that is all for now. I do have some pictures to post and some video from a short weekend vacation that we took a couple of weeks ago. Hopefully I can get that posted soon.

Good news x 2

Good news #1

Yesterday I had the dentist appointment I really did not want to go to. If you can remember, I was told that I might need a root canal and that was really freaking me out. So I went in yesterday and told the nurse that I was freaked out and that this was my first filling and she promised me that I would not feel a thing. I was especially freaked out about the injection because I've heard that it hurts. Well, it turns out that they do the injections different now; the doc puts the needle along the length of the tooth that needs the work and you don't feel a thing - I was really surprised by that. After the drilling got done, the doc told me he couldn't see the nerve and he could just fill up my tooth, no root canal needed. I felt so relieved! So I ended up getting the tooth colored filling so you can't tell that I have metal in my mouth which I just think is totally ugly. I had a little bit of pain last night when the anesthesia was wearing off but it eventually went away. Brice took me out to DQ for ice cream last night since I was such a good patient - I actually ate the whole thing this time and didn't need for Brice to finish it off for me like he usually does! Anyways, I do have some pain today in my tooth because I ended up getting a bruise on my gum where the doc put the injection. Even though it sucks to get bruises every time I get a shot or blood drawn, if that is the worst pain I get, I can handle it!

Good news #2

I didn't know how my maternity leave would work since by the time I deliver I will be a month short of the 1 year employment requirement to qualify for FMLA leave (3 months off of work). United Healthcare has what they call first year leave that you can take before this time but you only get 6 weeks of time off. Well, it turns out that I will get 4 weeks for the first year leave after which I will switch to FMLA and be able to be off for an extra 12 weeks. So total, I will be able to be off of work for 4 months! I am so excited about that!!! Thank goodness for short term disability insurance that will pay my wages while I am out on leave otherwise this would not be possible!

Week in review

Since it has yet been another week since I have posted, I will do another week in review. Of course, nothing has really happened much this past week but I will do what I can!

I will start with American Idol on Tuesday/Wednesday. I did not catch all of it on tuesday but was very happy about who ended up finally going home on Wednesday. These are 2 guys that just have ok voices and have some serious issues. Phil doesn't know how to raise his soft palate and has some SERIOUS issues with staying on pitch most of the time. And then there is Chris who obviously thinks that somehow, singing nasaly is ok. I want to smack him and say that no, it is not ok and you shouldn't just be using your nasal passages for your resonance. It still amazes me that these people actually have a voice coach on the show because I honestly can't tell!

I went to my voice lesson on Friday and was 15 minutes late because of the hideous traffic that I had to face. It usually takes me about a half an hour to get there but it took me an hour!!!! The reason traffic was so horrible? There was a stalled van in the middle lane of north bound 35W just sitting there - there was no trooper there with toe truck to get it out of the way. And the thing that really torked me off is that the traffic people on the radio say absolutely nothing about it!!!! Anyways, by the time I finally got there, it was good but I lost 15 minutes that I paid for because of the stupid traffic.

On Saturday we met Brice's dad and wife for dinner at this little hole in the wall restaurant in Webster, MN which was only about 20 minutes from our house. Webster is only about 3 or 4 blocks long but there were a ton of people there! Food was pretty good but the scalloped potatoes were wonderful! The drive down there was really nice. We passed a lot of really pretty farm land, lots of cows, horses and one goat farm (they were so cute!).

Sunday was pretty usual, went to church, then out for breakfast, grocery shopping and then home. We did have some fun trying to drive and walk through the crazy winds. I wanted to take some video but by the time we got back from the grocery store, the winds died down.

Yesterday I had another OB appointment and all looks good. I did loose yet another pound which I can't believe because I feel I eat like a pig! Baby's heart beat was good and strong, between 158-160 beats per minute. Next month is the big ultrasound and I'm really excited for that! Brice and I are trying to decide to find out the sex of the baby....I always said that I wanted to wait but now that we have the names all picked out, I just want to know so I know what to call the little peanut.

Today is the dreaded dentist appointment. Hopefully I'll walk out of there with a filling and not a root canal.