What I've been up to

There's another post below so that I don't have one gigantic post...I'll just have 2 big posts :P This post is about me. The one below is about Matt.

So July 12 I had surgery. I have pictures of it, so if stuff like this makes you squeamish you might want to close one eye (so you can see when the pictures are over) and scroll past the pictures. They aren't THAT bad (in my opinion.) But first a description of why I needed surgery. I'll post the start and end of the surgery pictures in case someone wants to skip them. There isn't any blood. It's just presurgery, stitches and the scar.

Here's why: I had something weird start growing on my right leg about a month or so after Matt was born. At first I thought it was an ingrown hair, and then it got bigger so I thought it was a wart. It just kept getting bigger...I was watching the news one night and it talked about skin cancer being on the rise and showed a picture of carcinoma. I was like O_O because it looked just like (at least to me) the thing on my leg. I called the doctor the next day and scheduled an appointment. (This was in June when I did all of this.) I had my doctor appointment and the doctor said it wasn't carcinoma (hallelujah!!!) but it appeared to be an "infected hair folicle" and if it wasn't removed it would keep getting bigger and bigger. The doctor referred me to a surgeon and I decided to get it removed a couple weeks later. So on July 12 surgery took place and they removed it. By then it was starting to itch and hurt a little...and indeed it was getting bigger. I'm glad it got removed when it did. Here's before, during the healing and after pictures.

* START OF SURGERY PICS *



Here it is pre surgery (that was actually taken in the doctor's office via cell phone camera right before they were going to remove it.) I took a side picture so it can be seen how thick it is.


View from the front. Looks like the bottom part of the pic got messed up a little in transmission from my cell phone to computer.


A few days after surgery. 5 stitches.


After it's all healed up. This pic was actually from earlier today, so this picture is about a month after the stitches were removed.

* END OF SURGERY PICS *

They sent the removed thing to a lab to have them verify it wasn't cancer (it's standard procedure when something is removed to send it to a lab for tests.) It wasn't cancer. The surgeon confirmed it was totally random and there's no sort of increased risk to get another one. The surgeon said my leg was a really weird place for one to be though. So hopefully I won't ever have another one.

In other news, I went skydiving!

We (me and Robby, my younger brother) were going to go skydiving in June but the day we were planning on going it was cloudy and raining and when the rain cleared up it was super windy so we weren't able to jump. We rescheduled for July 23 and that's when we were able to jump. I've got a few pics of it. Let me start off by saying it was fun and I would go again if money wasn't a factor. Also as a side note, I had the stitches I posted about above while I was skydiving, just to clarify the timing. The stitches were in but weren't getting removed until the following Tuesday.




Getting all rigged up. We did tandem jumping, which is basically we aren't in charge of anything besides following directions. Total we had 5 people inside the plane and the pilot...so 6 people total. We had to get up to 10,500 feet elevation before we jumped.



I was first to jump. When it came time to jump they opened the door, and the instructor (the person I jumped with) sat on the very edge of the plane so my butt was in the air, 10,500 feet IN THE AIR and tipped forward, backward, forward and we were out of the plane. On the way down I was thinking "maybe this wasn't such a good idea..." (kind of a little late) and then after a few seconds it became more fun once I convinced myself I may as well enjoy the ride xD. It was too loud to be able to talk because we were falling at least 100 (I think actually 110-120) miles/hour.


The free fall part lasted maybe 10-15 seconds and then the instructor opened the parachute and it was amazing. We could talk without having to raise our voice...it was just like talking on the ground. We did a few 360 turns (which was a whole turn). Oh my, get ready to live! Those turns were more fun than a roller coaster x 2398579823785. I'm not sure who is who in the picture. One is me and one is Robby.


The ride down lasted maybe 12-15 minutes...? I'm not sure but it was super fun. As I said earlier I would go again if given the chance and money wasn't an issue. It cost well over $100 but I figured you don't get a chance like that all the time, so I decided to take it. I don't know that I'd ever want to go solo because I'd be very concerned I'd mess something up and die. (You have to go through extensive training to be able to jump solo though.) I also didn't get a video because that would have been an extra $100 or so. No thanks.

At the beginning before jumping you have to fill out a bunch of paperwork which basically says multiple times that you could DIE or get severely injured and if that happened you/family members/anyone could not sue them and knew that if they tried they would lose because of the documents you're signing. I thought that was pretty funny. They also had about 45 minutes worth of training which they said again multiple times that you could die. They also said like 97% of the time someone dies it's because the passenger wasn't following directions and messed it up.

I have to admit, at the end of the paperwork and training I was seriously reconsidering if I really wanted to jump or not xD. I decided I may as well since I wouldn't get that chance every day and that was something I wanted to do in my lifetime...Mark's mom also jumped as well. She was the first of all of us to go which I thought was pretty funny. She wasn't planning to jump when we went in June and couldn't due to the weather. She went through the training and decided that she waned to jump. xD

So, I've officially been skydiving! It was fun. It's funny to me that I was too scared to ride the Ripcord at Worlds of Fun, yet went skydiving xD. Haha. I imagine I won't be so scared now though if I decide to ride the Ripcord.

About Matt March-August

It's crazy how much time has passed. I can't believe the last post I made was when Matt was 6 1/2 weeks old...he's now a little over 6 1/2 MONTHS old. I guess that means lots of pictures.

So, since my last post in March I've quit my job and become a full time stay at home mom =D. I was required to go back to work for two weeks if I wanted to be eligible for rehire in the future...so I went back in the beginning of April and my last day was April 16. (I really enjoyed that job overall, so decided I'd rather leave on good terms just in case I want to work there again in the future.) I love being a stay at home mom.

Matt now laughs and smiles all the time. I LOVE it. He has a very easy going personality. He jabbers a lot and loves to play with rings and toys that "crackle" (I guess paper is inside the fabric so when he moves his hand it makes a crackle sound.) I also just found a few days ago that he likes to play with paper and wrinkle it up. He also loves his pacifier and can pick it up and put it in his mouth.

He sits up by himself for 30 seconds or so...sometimes a bit longer if he isn't trying to reach for something. He loves it when I sing songs and do actions with him. His current favorite is I'm a Little Teapot.

He sleeps the night and is an excellent sleeper.

We started him on solids at 5 months (so about a month and a half ago) and he likes everything we've given him. He was unsure about all the vegetables I gave him until he tasted sweet potatoes. Sweet potatoes are definitely his favorite but he will eat the other vegetables now without spitting it out. (Veggies he's eaten so far are carrots, yellow squash, butternut squash, zucchini, sweet potatoes, peas and green beans.) He's now tasting fruits and likes them without a problem at all. (So far he's had banana, pears, peaches and applesauce.) He is a good eater although at times he'd rather jabber than eat.

His last doctor appointment (the 6 month check up) a couple weeks ago we found that he had lost 1 1/2 pounds since his 4 month old appointment. He weighed 13 pounds at his 4 month check up and was 11 pounds 9 ounces at his 6 month check up so the doctor suggested we put him on a mostly formula diet -- and a high calorie one at that -- which basically means we add extra powdered formula. So normally for a 4 oz bottle it takes 2 scoops of powder, we add 3 now. (I was breast feeding him) Apparently my milk had mostly dried up which is why he was losing weight. (My guess is it started happening around the time he began sleeping the night through.) We've decided that he'll just be on formula now because it's too hard to try and keep my milk supply up to where it would need to be while he's drinking formula. It was kinda sad and hard for me to deal with and accept it in the beginning because I wanted him to get all the benefits of nursing...but at least he got 6 months of it so that's better than nothing.

He's started gaining weight back (yay!) and according to our scale is at 14 pounds just 2 weeks later. He actually has an official weigh in at the doctor tomorrow as well as his 6 month immunizations. ** EDIT: He weighed 13 pounds, 12 ounces at the doctor appointment today **

It's amazing how much he has grown and is learning. Here's some updated pics since my last post.


2 months old


2 months old


3 months old


3 months old


4 months old


4 months old


4 1/2 - 5 months old


4 1/2 - 5 months old


5 1/2 months old.


5 1/2 months old


July 4. We FINALLY were able to get him to fall asleep. We were celebrating the 4th of July with family and he was convinced if he didn't stay awake he was going to miss something. He finally fell asleep and guess what...he didn't miss anything.


Trying carrots. LOL. As you can see from his expression he was not a fan at first.


6 months old

Matt is now 6 1/2 weeks old. It sure doesn't seem like it's been that long. He's gotten so big. At his last doctor appointment a few weeks ago he weighed 9 pounds, 9 ounces. I'm pretty sure he's over 10 pounds now. He's outgrown newborn diapers and has started to outgrow some of his clothes too.

He's starting to stay awake more during the day (and night too, unfortunately) and pay attention to things. He's starting to make sounds. It's so cute to see him starting to be more interested in the world rather than sleeping or eating all the time.

The doctor said he should be starting to smile (on purpose) and laugh out loud soon and I can hardly wait. So far all we've seen is him smile when he's sleeping. He's laughed out loud a couple times for me but that was also while he was falling asleep.

Picture time!

Matt was about 4 weeks old. This was the first time he was in the swing without crying the entire time.


Getting ready to head out. I don't remember where we were going but he looked so cute all bundled up I had to get a picture. He was around 4 weeks in this as well.


Taken last night (almost 6 1/2 weeks old). He was a very happy baby so I decided to take lots of pictures last night. As said above, he doesn't smile on purpose yet. So any pictures where it looks like he's smiling it's just good timing with the camera.


I got a picture of his mohawk. I put his hair up in the "mohawk" style so it can actually be seen. I figure this will be good proof that he had a mohawk once he gets old enough to care.


This is my absolute FAVORITE picture. His expression and hair and everything looks to me like he's on some kind of a ride (like a roller coaster) and loving it. In reality he was probably about to spit up or tip over...but the picture is adorable in my opinion.

On a different note, I can fit into my pre-pregnancy jeans and I'm super excited about that. =D! I've been wearing maternity pants since Matt was born because it hurt to wear pre-pregnancy jeans. Now that I've mostly healed I can go back to normal jeans. It's a good thing too, some of the maternity jeans I was wearing I had to keep pulling up because they're loose now.

I weigh less now than I did before I got pregnant which is pretty impressive especially since I haven't been working out or watching what I eat or anything. Yay!

Baby is here!

Matthew Steven joined our family Saturday, February 5 at 3:11 PM. He weighed 7 pounds, 2 ounces. 20 3/4 inches long. He was born via c-section. It looks like his eyes are blue, but it's kind of hard to tell sometimes. He has a mohawk looking thing going. He has bald spots on both sides of his head and a stripe of hair down the middle. He already seems to be a quiet observer where he'll just lie content and look around for a long time. That's certainly fine with me!

I got a request for LOTS of pictures, so here they are:

His eyes are shiny because of the ointment stuff they put in his eyes to prevent infection. (This was right after birth -- before I even saw him)


All the above pictures were taken 2/5/11.

This was when we were about to leave the hospital. Those jeans were the "newborn" size jeans I brought for him. Obviously they're meant for a bigger newborn. He ended up not wearing the pants since they would have fallen right off.


He sleeps with his mouth open like me.

And loves the pacifier from the hospital (in fact, that's the only one he'll take)

He turned 2 weeks old on Saturday so these are all his 2 week old pictures:

He's started smiling and making faces while he's sleeping. I love just watching his face while he sleeps.



This morning after feeding him he laughed TWICE for me as well. It was adorable. I tried to get him to do it again so I could get it on video but he wouldn't.

Below is my labor story for anyone that wants to hear it.

My car isn't working so Mark gave me a ride to work on Friday 2/4. I got to work at 2:30 PM or so and as soon as I got out of the car I felt a gush of wetness. I didn't think much of it and started work like normal at the beginning of my shift. I noticed if I sat still it seemed to stop, but when I got up and walked the gushing feeling started again. Finally around lunch time it occurred to me that my water may have broken. I called my mom on my last break and described what it felt like and she said it probably was my water that broke. I wasn't having contractions so I stayed at work until the end of my shift. Mark left work an hour early and came and got me. That night I called my doctor and then the hospital's maternity ward.

The hospital told me to come in and they would check to see if my water really had broken. As we finished getting our stuff together for the hospital I had a few contractions start but they were random and not very intense. We got to the hospital around 1:45 AM Saturday morning (2/5). The night nurse checked me and I was dilated to a 3.5 or so. The broken-water test they took came back positive so my doctor decided to wait and see if I made progress or what would happen. By about 4:00 AM I started having contractions that I had to breathe through and by 6:30 AM when the night nurse came back and checked me I was dilated to a 6 and having regular contractions that I had to breathe through. My doctor told the nurse to admit me if I made any progress so I was admitted around 6:30 AM.

Around 9 AM or so we called my mom to come and be with us in case Mark needed a break or something and then we more or less just waited. I had gotten an epidural by this time so I slept for a while since I really couldn't sleep while I was having contractions. Since my water had broken almost 24 hours earlier they gave me some antibiotics and I was starting to get a fever too. (They also thought I might have had a slight allergic reaction to something I was given -- although I don't have any allergies to anything that I know of.) By around 1:30 PM I was dilated to an 8 but had stopped progressing so they gave me Pitocin.

Not long after that the blood pressure/heart rate monitor alarms started going off and kept going off. The nurse had to come in every couple minutes because my heart rate kept jumping up and then going back to normal. They tried having me change positions but it didn't seem to make a difference. The Pitocin wasn't making me progress either. Around 2:30 PM or so my doctor came in and said that it was time to get baby here before it turned into an emergency so I had to have a c-section. By around 3 PM we were on our way to the operating room and Matt was born at 3:11 PM. Thankfully it wasn't an emergency c-section and everything went well. Once Matt was born my heart rate went back to normal and my fever went away.

Everything appears to be going well with the healing. I think I'm more tired now than I have EVER been in my entire life (which is part of why it took me at least 2 weeks to make this post.) but it's also been pretty exciting.

I'm starting to get to the point where I don't HAVE to sleep every time Matt does. I'm able to move around a bit more so I can start to get simple things done. Matt is doing very well. He had a weight check today and weighs 8 pounds now! (He was 6 lbs 14 oz when we left the hospital and at his first doctor's visit hadn't regained any weight so they wanted to see him again today.)

It's amazing to me to look at him and to think that he was inside me. I'm glad that he is here, strong and healthy and that the pregnancy is over. (Hallelujah!) I don't have to go back to work until April and then I'm planning to go back just for 2 weeks (to put in my 2 weeks notice) and then I want to be a stay at home mom. I'm pretty excited for that. I'm also already back to my pre-pregnancy weight which is pretty awesome as far as I'm concerned.

Ready for baby

So I've got 6 days left until I'm due and I'm ready for the baby to come now. My belly button is starting to pop out which as far as I'm concerned must mean he's done.

Belly picture time!
35 weeks:


36 weeks:


I forgot to take a 37 week picture, so here's the 38 week picture:


I don't know what's up with my left eye some of those pictures...maybe it's the angle or something?

The 38 week picture was from Monday and if anything I think my belly is even bigger...in just 3 days xD.

I had my baby shower a couple weeks ago and I think it was the most fun I've EVER had at a baby shower. I don't know if it's just because it was my baby shower or if it was just that awesome. It was mostly family and a couple co-workers. Granted, I've only been to a few baby showers so my comparison group isn't that big.

We got a lot of things we needed plus some other things that will come in way handy when the baby is older (such as teething rings. Thanks!) After the baby shower we were able to get everything left on our registry that we need and we're about as prepared (physically, emotionally, mentally, etc.) now as we can be.

After my baby shower was over I had a doctor's appointment and at the doctor's appointment they found that my blood pressure was high. They had me lie down on my left side for 10 minutes or so and then checked it again and my blood pressure went back to normal. I was dialated to 1.5.

They had me come back on Monday and my blood pressure seems to be good now. I was also dialated to a 3. Over the past couple days I've been feeling different than I have the entire pregnancy so I'm pretty sure my body is working on getting ready for the birth. It was enough that I called into work the past two days because I'd rather not go into labor at work. Plus the blizzard we just had would have made it really hard for me to get to work even if I wanted to. So far, no real contractions (just some random, non-hurting tightening and loosening.)

The due date is February 9. I would certainly be ok if he came a little earlier than that. My next doctor appointment is scheduled for after the due date, so if he hasn't made an appearance by then we'll be discussing options at the next doctor appointment. I don't want a valentine's day baby...but we'll see what he decides.

On a side note my car decided on Monday it didn't want to start although it worked just fine on Saturday (I didn't use it on Sunday). Mark had to give me a ride to work on Monday and since we had a blizzard on Tuesday and it's so stinkin' cold we're still not sure what's wrong with it--we haven't really even looked at it aside from trying to start it again. My car will turn over when I try to start it but it won't catch...a co-worker suggested it might be a spark plug or something? We'll see. I hope we can get it started to drive it to the car shop. There's been a suggestion that it could be the cold weather...but who knows. If the baby comes this week that would still be ok with me because once he's born I don't expect I'll be wanting to go any where for at least a week or two.

I've been meaning to post but have kept putting it off. Not any more!

Everything has been going well. We had a follow up ultrasound on December 2 to check baby's growth and development and he appears to be doing very well. We don't have to have any more follow up ultrasounds. :D!

Starting next week I go to weekly doctor appointments until the baby is born. It's amazing to me that our baby is due in a little over a month! Where has the time gone!?

We've finally gotten our nursery ready...at least the furniture in place. Here's some pictures:




I have never really gotten into decorating the nursery (or any room for that matter) so the walls get to stay the color they are. Plus when the baby is born he likely won't care what the room looks like.

Also I've got a lot of belly pictures. I'm trying to take weekly belly pictures from week 32 until the baby is born since that's when most the growth happens. Here's the latest belly pictures:

29 weeks

32 weeks

33 weeks

34 weeks

I didn't realize how big my belly really is until I saw the pictures I just posted. I haven't been knocking stuff off counters (yet) although it is getting difficult to bend over. I'm also not to the point of being ready for him to be born any time. I'm trying to mentally prepare (as much as I can anyway) for the big change this will be as well as all the changes that will result from it. I imagine as we get closer to his due date I'll be ready for him to come though.

I had my follow up ultra sound on Thursday and all appears well. Our little boy is already 1 pound 6 ounces (up from 11 ounces a month ago) and growing exactly how he should be. The doctor that did the ultrasound this time said she thinks it's "a whole lot of concern over nothing" and that he looks good. He was also breech at the ultrasound but since I'm only 25 weeks it's not a reason for concern yet.

We scheduled another follow up visit in 6 weeks just to make sure he keeps growing like he should be...but so far so good. Yay! At this ultrasound he was opening and closing his mouth (the doctor said he was "smacking his lips" xD) and at one point he had his fingers in his mouth -- it was so cute.

We moved a couple weeks ago and are now in a 3 bedroom townhome instead of a two bedroom apartment. We're still working on unpacking but so far we like it a LOT better than the apartment.

I have to admit I don't like unpacking (or packing for that matter) so it may take us a few months to get everything unpacked and organized.

Here's the latest belly picture at 25 weeks:


That picture was taken in the baby's room. There really isn't much to see because it's mostly empty...aside from a few boxes in it. We're planning to get the baby furniture in the next week or two so I'll have something to post about again soon. :D