Quilt and Nursery Pics

Ok here is what the nursery looks like...

And here are a few pics of Jake's Quilt. I got the pattern from and episode of Simply Quilts. The first is an overall then a coule of close ups of the quilting - the quilting in the star was intended to look like flames radiating from the center:

Still Pregnant

Well I am way past due for an update with some photo's and what not...so here we go. Beware the carnage...
First is a side view of me last week in my cute little Seahawks jersey on Christmas Eve (GO HAWKS!!!)

Then we have one from today...here is where it starts to get a little ugly...

And just to underline the pain I am in right now here is one of the stretch marks - some of which have split a second time...

So there you have it. I am stretched to my max and ready for the boy to be out...I'll be back to post some pics of the nursery and Jake's quilt...

I kinda look like a couch at this point...

For those of you wanting a more recent picture of me...here is one of my Dad and me on or around Thanksgiving. I am 32 Weeks (8 months) pregnant in this pic. We are looking at a photo album of my baby picutres...it was a lot of fun.

We had an appt. with our midwife yesterday and all is well. We are still probably going to induce around 38 weeks if this little guy stays on track with his size. I am also very excited that my last day at work will be in two weeks - Dec. 15th. :) Yee Haw! That will give me one week to prepare my house & myself. Then it's Christmas wich will be a pretty darn busy week and the following week will probably be the week we induce. That is only 5 weeks away!

Ultrasound results

The ultrasound went well. My little one is currently about 4lbs 3oz and in the 71st percentile. Allthough the midwife will not change my due date since it is only a guess anyway the u/s machine puts me due on 1/10/07 rather than 1/19/07. He is looking good an healthy and will probably have long legs like his daddy. We got to see his cute chubby little face for a second too - I can't wait to meet him for real! His living space is starting to get cramped (as is to be expected) but he is head down already so that is one less thing we have to worry about (i.e. gee I hope this kid ain't breech). All in all he is measuring just over a week ahead. Some of his measurements are more than that (like his legs) but most are about the 1 week mark (none less than one week ahead). I won't post the pics because they are pretty hard to decipher and not really all that exciting but we got a couple profiles that were 'squished' because of the angle he was lying and because he is head down and we got one of his foot and one more just to make sure it really is a a boy (and uh, yeah, nothing has changed there).
So, things are starting to look a bit better. We meet with Donna, our midwife today to have our bi-weekly appt. and go over everything since our last visit (diabetes, utlrasound, etc.).

Now Boarding the Glucose Testing Train

The meeting with Andrea at my midwife's office went well. She taught me the basics of what diabetes is and how to manage it with diet and exercise. I will have to test my glucose levels four times a day - once in the morning and one hour after breakfast lunch and dinner. Not fun but since I've been pierced and tattoed it's not that big of a deal, plus if I can't handle this I've got a REAL surprise in store for childbirth! It sounds fairly simple. I figure it will take a couple of days for my levels to get to where they should be as I learn what does and does not work for me diet-wise. Hopefully that's all there will be to it.
If I can't get my levels under control with diet I will have to take an oral form of insulin to help. Then we adjust the dose and if that does not work we add insulin via injection. Hopefully it will never get that far!
So, here's to hoping for some nice low readings!

But I KNOW my own veins...

Sooo here is a little update on how things have been going. Little drama here and there but so far all is well.

On Monday the 6th I was driving home from the video store...at a stop light (thank god) I started to get lightheaded and dizzy, then my arms went numb and my vision started to close in. I took a deep breath and things were ok. I drove home still feeling a little lightheaded (only a few blocks). After dinner when the feeling did not subside we decided to call our nurse hotline provided by my insurance company. As predicted they told us to go to the emergency room (they tell you to do this with anything more complicated than a hangnail). I thought it was a bit extream so I decided to call the on-call midwife and see what she had to say...she also said to go to the ER since she couldn't diagonse anything specifically pregnancy related and preggo's get sick just like everyone else, basically better safe than sorry.
So off to the ER we went with books in hand because we have done this before...we only had to wait 3 hours to be seen (right around 11pm). They put me in a bed and gave me a gown...Oh yes it was 29degrees outside at the time...none too warm...I got the room that everyone who works there said 'it's always so cold in this room' - just what I wanted to hear since I had been given my nice thick plush warm gown HA! Anyway they took some blood and urine to be checked and then hooked me up to the bloodpressure/pulse dealy. They got a doppler and checked Jake's heart rate which looked fabulous. And I told them no less than 4 times that no I am not cramping/leaking/or having any sort of 'vaginal complaints.' Then they ran some more fun blood pressure tests (laying, sitting, standing) and determined that my bloodpressure kept dropping when I changed positions and that I was 'a little dehydrated' -basically not enough for concern but because I'm pregnant so they decided to do something about it...which was to give me an IV. That would have been fine, except the nurse totally brushed me off when I told her that I have small, rolling veins. I understand that she does this day in and day out and is probably really good at it most of the time, but damnit I know my own body and have given up enough blood to know how my veins react to the proceedure. So she stuck me, missed the vein, pushed the needle in, pulled it back swung it around under the skin and finally decided that the crook of my arm just wasn't a good spot. So we got to get stuck again in the wrist area with only mild pushing/pulling/digging. She got the vein but I don't think it was in right because the damn thing hurt and I am pretty sure they are not supposed to hurt. Then they hooked me up to the fluid bag and let 'er rip - that stuff was FREEZING cold...it actually started to burn it was so cold on the spot where the tube was against my arm. I started to shiver pretty badly and eventually someone brought me a blanket. The best part was when the blood pressure cuff turned on and started to take my bp...it squeezed so dang hard that I was able to see the blood back out of my vein and climb up the IV tube several feet (I understand physics and that this was expected to some extent but it was a LOT and VERY painful). Once I was done with fluids I got to get unplugged and use the bathroom (I was dying because they loaded the whole bag into me in just under 40 minutes). Then they finally unhooked me and sent me home telling me to follow up with my midwife as there was nothing abnormal in my blood or urine....We got home about 3:30AM so we took Tuesday off for some much needed rest.
Wednedsay I got a call around 9am from the midwife to see if I could meet with her at 11 (I had tried to get in on Tuesday when I was already off work but wouldn't ya know it, life just ain't that convienent). So I took off from work and we headed over there. The results of the meeting were that I am no longer allowed to work overtime, I need to eat more protein, and I got to take my GD test and other bloodwork that day. She measured me and decided to order another ultrasound because I think I am measuring large. We talked about maybe needing to induce 2 weeks early - if the induction doesn't 'take' we may have to schedule a c-section. yipee. Soooo over to the lab we go and I get to have some really really orange syrup to drink (oh yea, can't wait to do THAT again), wait an hour and have my blood drawn.
I got my results from that test that evening and my numbers were high, so I had to do the 3hr glucose challenge...I spoke with the nurse on Friday and asked here if there was anything I needed to do in order to take the test...she said I could just walk right into the outpatient lab and they would do it and I would have to fast beforehand. So I had dinner on Friday night and nothing afterward. We got up Saturday morning and my husband had the foresight to see if they had called in the lab orders or not (of course they had not). So we called the midwife's office to see if they were open but they were not...we has the on/call paged and fortunately it was my midwife who was on call. I told her I could do it another day but wanted to try to do it since I had already been fasting and the test takes a lot of time out of the workday. She was kind and called in the order and we headed on down to the lab...Another blood draw and some waiting for the results. Then they gave me another one of those YUMMY orange drinks (looks like I didn't have to wait to long after all - and have I mentioned my stomach does not do orange when it's empty? So we got to sit and ride the nice waves o' nausea). We waited an hour and had blood drawn again. Then we waited another hour and had a 3rd blood draw and then one hour later had our last blood draw. I requested they call me with the results (I think I only had to tell her 3 times that yes, I understand you can only give me the numbers, not what they mean...) and went and got food.
Later that evening they called me with the numbers...of course I had no clue but after some internet research it looks like I may have failed that test too...JOY.
I called them on Monday and they said I had in fact failed the 3hr test and that I am a gestational diabetic. She said she'd call in my perscription for my testing equipment to the pharmacy and we set up and appt. for me to learn how to use it all.
Of course by the time I had gotten to the pharmacy that evening they had not yet called in the perscription so I get to make a seperate trip. But I only sorta look like a heroine addict now with all of the needle marks in my arms...thankfully it's sweater season...

Lots of fun...up for this weekend and next week: Saturday I have my baby shower - YAY! This shoudl be fun and a nice bright part of the week. Then all week my boss is on vacation so I am running the call center by myself wich should be totally do-able if not a little hectic. I have to leave early of course because I am limited to no more than eight hours a day. I'll leave a little earlier on Tuesday to meet with the nurse to teach me about the diabetes. On Wednesday we'll have an ultrasound (I can't wait to see him again)! Thursday I have my office baby shower (another highpoint in the week) and then I leave early again to meet with my midwife to go over everything. It's going to be busy!

Ultrasound pic!

Took me a while to get a copy onto the computer and it's a low res pic but here he is:

Vino

Well we spent last Sunday making a new batch of wine and watching football - pretty good combo if you ask me! This is our first batch to be straight from nature to the bottle as it were. We picked, pitted and juiced somewhere around 60lbs of plums from our neighbors tree (they couldn't get rid of them fast enough and it was free fruit for us)! Everything (juice, skins, fruit) goes into the fermenter and then we test, and test and test again to determine how much sugar, acid, tanin, etc. to add to the mix then we put all of that stuff in there, added the yeast and hoped it would take off. Of course it did - by Monday night it was clear the yeast was in action full force. On Tuesday morning we woke up to discover the fermenter had overflowed! Yikes! the gases pruduced by the yeast built up under the thick foam head that is created from the fermentation motion and pushed the head up and out. At least now we know there is enough room for the rest of the process without another overflow and there are worse things that my kitchen could smell like besides fruity wine.

Yes, I AM a total slacker...

Well I have completely slacked off on getting my bi-weekly pictures posted...everything is going well. Jake is still measuring ahead by a week or so and we may induce a bit early if he keeps it up...we shall see.
So here we go for pics I am at 22 weeks:

Finally getting these up...and it's time for new ones already!

Guess I slacked off on getting these pics posted but...here they are...I am here in all my glory at 18Weeks 6Days... this was the day we had our ultrasound. Below is a pic of my brother, Aaron (who is not actually pregnant....um. duh.) Just goofing off. He has always had this talent to bulge out his belly like were with child.

Ultrasound!!!

ITS A BOY!!!!!!!!!!
His name will be Jacob Andrew

And You Thought It Was Going To Be More Belly Pics...

...But believe it or not I have actually been getting some quilting done!!

This is a quilt I did for a coworker, Apryl. She wanted a quilt for her son, Nassir. Hope they like it! It was very difficult due to all of the set-in seams but not as hard as I thought it would be - I guess it was more time consuming than anything. On top of that we had a VERY hot summer and so I was not exactly jumping to spend time in my sewing room that gets extreamly warm. But it's done...
Here is the whole quilt:

And here is a pic of the fuzzy backing I used:
I also made a small pillow out of the left over backing fabric. :)
Oh and the quilting was done using the ABC's. I had enough room for each block to have an uppercase and lower case of each letter of the alphabet. The bottom row are the numbers 0-9.

Well, Your Fatter This Week

So on Thursday my husband says, come on, it's time for pictures. I said "I thought we were only doing this every other week." His response, and I quote "Well, your fatter this week." Just what it takes to make a girl giddy huh? But I suppose I know he meant well...so here are a couple of pics. I am not going to do the comparison pics until next week or whenever we do pics next.

Well kids, it's that time again..

Two weeks have passed and here I am a bit bigger than before. Really starting to round out and lose that belly button...it just keeps getting shallower and shallower...Here are the 15 weeks pics:

Now the side by side comparison. On the left is 13 weeks 2 days and on the right, 15 weeks.

Holy...Cow?

Ok, well not quite a cow yet but for someone who didn't break 100lbs until she was 24 this is quite a change! Sooo....here are the 13 week pics...As you can see my belly button is getting shallower and I suspect will be gone in a few more weeks...I also don't think I am going to get away without maternity clothes for much longer...we shall see.
So with out further ado...here we are:
This is today (13 weeks 2 days) and the pic below is 11 weeks 6 days

Had another appointment yesterday...

Well, we went to the midwife and had a fairly uneventful appt. Got to hear the heart beat again though so that was neat...if you go by the old wives tail that a fast heart beat (above 140 beats per min.) means a girl and a slower heartbeat (below 140) means a boy, then we are having a girl...then again you got a 50/50 shot of getting it right!
Still loosing weight rather than gaining it (but managing to get stretch marks anyway...won't be sharing a photo of those)!...was told to up my protein intake and eat more often in general so we'll see if that helps. Donna (our midwife) was not concerned. She told me if by 20 weeks I hadn't gained weight we'd need to take some further steps, but for now, no big deal.
Other than that, all is well.
Our next visit is in August and hopefully we'll have an ultrasound to determine the sex, but we may end up waiting until September, it just depends on what the midwife wants to do. I'm not in any hurry cuz I know eventually I'll find out, whether that's a month or 6 from now.
I know, not a very exciting post, but hey it's better than nothin'.
2nd Trimester here I come! (one more week...then I'll be 14 weeks and officially in the 2nd Trimester).
For those keeping track...My Due date is January 19thI am 13weeks as of Thursday (that would be 3.25 months) - right now the baby is about the size of a lemon just to give you a visual comparison.

Almost 12 weeks

Soo, we got a little behind on the whole picture thing...but the results are more dramatic...check out mrs. chunk:


And for the refrence pics...here is one from today and 2 (almost 3) weeks ago:

Wow...

More of the Headless Pregnant Chick

Actully, I'll put at least one pic with a head in it here...
Ok so here comes weeks 9.




















Ok and for comaprison, here are weeks 7 and 9:

Preggo Pics

So I have decided that I am going to take pics every other week until I really start to notice a change. I'll try to post 2 pic sets at at time - one of the previous set and one of the current set so the difference can be seen.
Soo...here we go:

5 weeks 2 days.


7 weeks 1 day.

So, there you go...not a whole lot of change at this point. At the 7 weeks pic I had gained 5 lbs more than my 'prepregnancy weight' soo, not a ton. Most of what you see is all that weight gain plus a little bloating. In the next month or so things are really going to start to change.

We go for our first ultra sound this Thursday and if I get pics I will try to post them If I can figure out the stupid scanner...Hmmm. sounds like a job for Brian.

Floors

Well we have finally finished a project that has taken just about a month. We refinished our hardwood floors.
Soo...without further ado, here are some progression pics:

Dining Room - What we found under the carpet.


Living Room - What we found under the carpet.


Dining Room - After lots of sanding and filler and more sanding.


Living Room - After sanding filling, sanding again.


The Bedroom - After sanding and filling etc. These turned out to be Oak instead of Fur.


Dining Room - Done! (well we haven't quite taken the tape off yet but you get the idea).


Living Room - Done


Bedroom - Done (except for the trim).

Well there is the photo journey of the floors. It took a long time but we did it. I'll take some pics now that we have the trim put up and the quarter-round put on...I'll try to post those later this week.

I'm Pregnant!

Yup! I can finally shout it out across the rooftops since all of the moms and dads (or should I say Grandma's and Grandpa's) know now!
Brian and I are sooo very excited.
Stay posted for belly pics...I'll be posting my progress, along with more quilt stuff of course!

A quilt for Gabby

I made this quilt for my neighbor's daughter Gabby. It was a kit so it took very little time to complete.

Miss Eve and Her Quilt

She loves her quilt!

Secret Sisters are back!

Well, today I got my secret sister package in the mail from Jennifer, aka White Buffalo, a woman in the FiGuMs group. These ladies are all so generous! I got 3 fat quarters, Chocolate!!! a skein of yarn, a crochet hook 2 spools of thread and an adorable picuture frame. ...the pic below says it all:

Baby Quilt

Well I have just finished a baby quilt that I made for my neice. I made it entirely with fabrics I got at the new quilt shop in my area, Evergreen Quilting. I am so very excited to have a quilt shop so close to home! Here are some pics of the quilt! It only took me about 4 hours to complete after I had the washing done (mind you this was spread out in 20min - hour long spurts over several weeks). The part I liked the most about making this quilt is that I did not have to put any batting in it and therefore I did not have to quilt it as heavily as I would have otherwise. The first photo of course is the entire quilt. The second one (below left) is a close up of the moon quilting I did, and the third one (below right) shows the super soft fabric I used as backing. I think it's called Minky or something of the sort.

Stuff I've been doin'

I feel as though I have neglected my little corner of the internet...but life gets in the way sometimes.
Here is my entry for a rotary cutter contest I was in for the Fairy Goddess Mothers...My theme was the "Quest for the Cure Gunslinger"
Ready? Draw!

Feburary Goddess Girl

Ok so I have been working on another Goddess Girl for my Fairiegoddessmothers quilting group and FINALLY got her finished. I would have had her done MUCH sooner had my cat not pissed all over my fabric stash! I am sorry but I can't help being vulger about it. She really really made me mad at her and fortunately for her I am not the sort to resort to violence (allthough it SERIOUSLY crossed my mind).
So anyway...here is the block for Feburary...the theme was love.

Eve's Quilt

Well, it's finally done! Quilted and bound. D-U-N DUN!
Brian did a great job picking out the fabric, designing the quilt and doing all of the piecing. When he finished he gave it to me and I added the borders, quilted it (in a 4inch grid) and bound it.
We bound it in red, and it is a little hard to see in the photo, but I assure you it is sharp and totally completes the quilt.
We hope that Eve will enjoy crawling on it and later when she is bigger, snuggling up under it.
Oh, and just for fun, here is a pick of the Kiddo at Christmas (I think she was somewhere around 3 weeks old at the time).