Shower time!

We had our first shower July 17 and it was fabulous and beautiful! Some wonderful family and friends threw it for us back home and we are truly blessed by everyone's generosity. Claire officially now has more clothes in her closet than her daddy, lol. She is going to be so stylish and I can't wait to play dress up with her!!! We have another shower this weekend given my some dear friend of mine from work. I am super excited.

Not much else going on which is a really good thing. My favorite thing is to remind Eric how close to due date we are getting. His face is always priceless. I think he tried to pay me back today. When I walked in the door from work he says "that dress makes you look bigger, haha I can say that now you are pregnant". He thinks he is funny. I think I need to remind him that statement is never appropriate. Here are some pictures from my shower the other weekend.

What a week

What should have been a normal "boring" (have I mentioned I love normal boring weeks) turned out to be the most stressful and insane week of my life. Wednesday afternoon was the day I had been waiting for, it was our growth ultrasound and best of all we were going to get 4/d pictures. Little Claire is growing right on schedule in the 65% percentile at 3 pounds 4 ounces and everything looked great. Our stubborn and sleepy girl (like her Daddy) refused to show us her pretty face during 4/d. She was knocked smooth out with her hands covering her face. I tried jumping up and down, eating strawberries, poking at her etc., but she refused to move her hands. My dear friend Bekah (who is also the sonographer) told me to come back on my lunch break on Thursday and we would try again. We left to go home for a brief break before we had to head back to the hospital to start our childbirth class. That is when the scariest moment of my life happened.

Eric and I were in our seperate vehicles since Eric met me at the appointment from work. On the way home Eric stopped at Sonic to get us a snack before we had to go to childbirth class and I continued on my way home. About 5 miles from our house a lady ran a redlight and t-boned my Jeep on the driver's side. As my car was flipping (or rolling or doing whatever it did) all I could do is cry out to God to please keep my baby girl safe. I know it was only a few seconds before my vehicle came to a stop, but it felt like it was in slow motion. Somehow my vehicle landed up right in the grassy area in front of a gas station. At that point people ran over to my vehicle to see if I was alright. I told them I was fine, but that I was 29 weeks pregnant and very concerned about my baby girl. I somehow located my phone in time to call Eric before he had a chance to drive up on the accident. He cancelled his Sonic order and came quickly (although at the time it seem to take ages). It then dawned on me that when all of this happened I was on the phone with my Mom! I quickly called her and told her I was in an accident (which she unfortunately heard happen) and I was ok that I would call her back as soon as I could. I then called Bekah and text Bekah that there was an emergency to call me. Bekah called back immediately, but by this time I was already talking to the office and the EMS. Bekah told Eric to get me to St. Luke's immediately. It was obvious immediately that God's hand was on the entire accident. The area where the accident happened was right in front of several of our dear friends' neighborhood including our pastor's neighborhood. Eric called our sweet friends Daniel and Emily and Emily was home and immediately came running. Bekah was standing within feet of my OB talking to Eric so my doctor knew immediately something had happened.

The ride to the hospital seemed to take forever. Thanks to Daniel and Emily following shortly to the hospital with Eric's truck, Eric was allowed to ride in the ambulance, but not in the back with me to the hospital. The ER doc examined me and I was fine other than a few ugly bruises and was able to get Claire's heartbeat on the doppler, the best sound in the world. Bekah was able to meet us shortly in the ER with my medical records and stood by me the majority of the evening which meant more to me than she will ever know. My doctor wanted to admit me for an overnight stay to monitor me and Claire. So I made my first trip to labor and delivery (much earlier than I ever wanted to). They hooked me and Claire up to the monitors and by a miracle from God Claire's heartbeat was excellent and she was active and moving. The bad thing was I was having several contractions and didn't realize it. The doctor said that it was most likely due to my uterus being irritated from the accident and by 9:00 they had stopped.

The next morning they hooked me and Claire back up to the monitors for a while. Claire looked great, but I did have a few more contractions (I did sorta feel one). They gave me a magic pill to settle my uterus down which worked perfectly. Later that morning they did an ultrasound on Claire and she looked beautiful and I was headed home! Thankfully my sweet mother in law and Dennis came down and Jena was able to help out with laundry and housework as I was quite sore from the accident. I had strict instructions from my doctor to take it easy until Tuesday.

I had a follow up appointment on Saturday morning to monitor Claire for a bit and make sure I wasn't contracting anymore as well as to repeat the ultrasound to double check on Claire. I knew something was up when the nurse asked me after the ultrasound had I been leaking any fluid, which to my knowledge I had not. Shortly thereafter I got the bad news that I had to stay in the hospital overnight again! The amniotic fluid had decreased 50% since Thursday! They wanted to monitor me and Claire continuously overnight and repeat the ultrasound in the morning to see if the fluid was increasing or decreasing. Luckily my parents had come in that morning because by this point I had remained surprisingly calm, but this news was just too much and I had a small breakdown. All I could to was continuously pray to God to take care of my little girl. I knew if she had to be delivered at this point she would be small, but she would most likely be ok. Even with this knowledge I begged God to keep her in my belly as close to term as possible.

God answered my prayers with a "yes". The next morning the fluid level had risen and I got to go home. Not quite the 4th of July I anticipated, but at this point I didn't care. I had the ultrasound repeated again on Tuesday and the fluid was back up to where it was prior to the accident and the doctor checked to make sure I wasn't leaking (which I wasn't).

I'm don't know what I would have done throughout all of this without my wonderful husband. I know he had several moments where he wanted to break down with me, but he remained my rock through it all. God has been at the center of this entire ordeal. We have so many wonderful friends and family who have continuously prayed for us and with us. Seeing the power of prayer in action how faithful God is has been utterly amazing. There are no words to describe it. We continue to pray for Claire to grow healthy and to thrive and to stay put for around 2 more months. I am praying that one day I may know the reason for this to have happened. It is so hard for me to comprehend. I know even if I don't ever know the reason that God allowed it to happen for his glory.

Thank you so much to everyone who has prayed with us and for us. We love you all.

It's been awhile!

Wow I cannot believe how long it's been since and update. Sorry! Things are going wonderful! Little Claire is quite active. Someone asked me the other day what makes her move the most and the answer isn't a specific food, but ALL food! She is not a picky girl at all! Finally got the phone call yesterday that the furniture is in! Thank goodness, now the fun decorating can begin. Eric is picking up the furniture tomorrow and then on Saturday the fun of putting it together begins. I may want to leave the house for a while I've heard, lol. Apparently putting together baby furniture is not always an easy task. I will be sure and post pictures as soon as we get it together. Mom finished her bedding so I am very excited to put it all together in the crib!

Another thing we learned this week was little baby socks and mittens and our washing machine are not friends. I started washing some of Claire's clothes and thought I was very successfull in doing so. Well the next load of our big people clothes didn't go so well. Halfway through it stopped full of dirty water and wouldn't spin or drain it just growled. Turns out the pump ate a baby mitten. Eric has become quite the handyman this year and managed to get instructions on how to get it out. Yay! Since he saved us $80 from having a repair man come out he wants to know when I am going to pay him. I told him the last 4 years of meals well compensates him, lol. Week 28 is nearing the end so I leave you with a picture from the first of the week 28 weeks=7 months!

Nursery!

The nursery is officially officially underway. Eric had done a little bit of painting, but this past weekend thanks to the help of a wonderful friend the nursery is looking beautiful. We did a wainscoting on the bottom. I will share pics as soon as Eric get's the bottom caulked and painted. I thought most of the work was putting up the woodwork, but apparently that is only half the battle. The prep work to paint is a lot more than I thought. Another note today is 24 weeks which marks when Claire is considered viable to live outsite of the womb. Of course we want the to wait until September, but it does make me feel better to know her chances of surviving are ok if for some awful reason she was born now. Here is my lovely haha 24 week picture.

Maybe this week Eric and I will spend more time together than last week. Every night last week we had something going on that kept us from seeing each other. Looking forward to our 4th anniversary on Thursday. I am waiting to see if Eric actually remembers. He hasn't said a word about it. No one better remind him either! Not that we will do anything or get each other anything, but just remembering the day is important.

Eric is playing softball tonight. I was going to go watch him play, but since he hurt himself last week playing he didn't know how much playing he would actually do and didn't want me sitting there bored. He thought last week that he was about 10 years younger and decided to slide into a base and hurt his ankle. He thinks I don't feel bad for him I really do feel bad, but he can be a little dramatic. When he called and told me he hurt himself he initially said "I broke my ankle". Knowing him like I do I knew he was exaggerating a little. A few seconds later he admitted he knows he didn't break it, but it really really hurt. Poor thing.

Ok off to get ready to watch the Bachelorette. I always say I won't get sucked in, but with all my shows ending I need something new to follow!

Baby and Vegas!

So much has gone on these past few weeks! Last week (May 6) we went for our routine Claire check up! We had an amazing ultrasound and got to see all 4 chambers of her heart, her little bones, bladder, kidneys and a bunch of other stuff. All I know is she is perfect! However we are going to have to have a talk with her when she is born. The entire ultrasound she proceeded to show us her girl parts and lift her legs over her head, lol. I would like to just think she was doing her daily yoga. We got some great pics with her legs over her head and then her yawning and rubbing her eyes at the end. She was a tired girl. Here is the pic of her little leg on top of her head, lol.

We left on Saturday May 8 and for Vegas and got back yesterday! We had an amazing time. I think we could have been anywhere and I would have had an amazing time. We got to relax and enjoy each other. Our last trip with just the two of us before Miss Claire. We really needed this trip. We bonded and laughed and walked a ton! Pic of me at our hotel. 22 Weeks!

Half Baked! 20/20

So today marks to halfway mark. Wahoo! Now I feel more on the countdown than the count up, lol. I have tried to stay away from the camera best I could, but I figure baby Claire might want to know what her Momma looked like pregnant with her so I present you with the fluffier side of me!

As Eric told me "you look like you might be pregnant". Thanks honey I might be.

We ordered baby Claire's furniture today! YAY! Now she won't have to sleep on the floor, lol. Unfortunatley it will be about 10 weeks before it comes in. The furniture is made in Chile and thanks to the earthquake it will be awhile. We figured for time's sake we better order it and not stress in the end. It also gives dear Eric sometime to get the room painted and ready. He has big ideas for our little girl's room. He makes me so proud wanting his daughter's room to be the best. Here is baby girl's crib! We also ordered the double dresser minus the hutch.

Dog Week

So this week has been dog week. I'm taking care of 4 extra dogs. Only one extra at my house and 3 at another. I love doggys they are babies too. The only bad thing about taking care of 4 extra dogs for an entire week is you start to get attached and you know when the week is over you won't get to love on them everyday. I stress about them like they are my own. Makes for an entertaining week, but nothing like 4 extra babies to be excited to see you at the end of a crappy day!

Baby Claire is moving and growing. How I love feeling her move. The movement isn't consistent yet, but every few days when I feel those little tap taps and pop corn feelings I give her little pep talks to keep doing it! Shamefully I admit I eat a lot of Jolly Ranchers because when I do I feel her for a little longer. She is going to be born addicted to sugar like her Momma!