Anxious For 1st Appointment

Sooooo... our first appointment is Friday, 2 days away. I've seriously been counting down until this appointment. Except, now with it so close, I'm super anxious. Not only am I excited, I'm nervous and a little scared. Yes, I know it's ridiculous. Yes, I know it's an unneccessary worry. Yes, I know that every woman who's ever been pregnant goes through this. Still!!!

I have no idea what to expect, and it seems like there's no real "normal" first visit. I guess sometimes you get an ultra sound, sometimes you don't; sometimes you get blood work, sometimes you don't; sometimes you get a pap smear, sometimes you don't... Apparently some women go to the hospital from the OB's for stuff; some get everything done in the same exact bed; some don't get an ultra sound until 12+ weeks; some don't get to hear the heartbeat until 12+ weeks... There's no norm!!! :(

Then of course, I have the worries that they'll find something wrong or tell me that I don't have a uterus or something. (Yeah, I know I'm ridiculous!!!) And, what if we're having twins?!?! I think Chris will have a heart attack! I mean, I kinda think we're having twins because I've been dreaming about them A LOT and it seems that there's at least one set of infant or young toddler twins everywhere we go... But what if we really are?!?! How will I handle that?!?! It's totally one thing for my crazy self to think it, it's another for it to be true!!

Seriously... I know it's nothing to get worked up about. There's a very rational part inside me that is trying very, very hard to relay this to the rest of me. However, it's appears that the irrational, pregnant, crazed part is winning that battle... Ugh...

I feel bad for the poor doctor... and for Chris...

Visit to Cleveland

OK, I lied... I said that we were going to Cleveland to meet our new niece this past weekend. We didn't. Since Kherington was 5 1/2 weeks early, she had to stay and be monitored at the hospital for a little while to make sure everything was good. She did come out of the NICU pretty early, but they still needed to keep her for observation. Jeff called us late Christmas evening and informed us that Kherington was being released. She had been doing so well, the hospital had no worries about her going home. (Isn't that the best Christmas present?!?!)

Since Shannon and Jeff both (desperately) needed rest and time to adjust, we decided rushing up there the first days that Kherington was home probably wasn't the best idea. They both really appreciated us waiting. :) We will be going up 17 Jan though... It works out perfectly with the new parents having time to adjust, and, Chris and I having off on the 19th and 20th.

We did get some amazing pictures of our gorgeous niece though!!! Kherington is absolutely beautiful... I can't get over it. Normally babies are kind of see-through for the first couple weeks, and they're a funny pinkish color... well they basically look like little aliens for the first week or so after they're born. Still adorable in all their little baby-ness, but you can't really see the uber cuteness or anything right away. Not with Kherington though!! She's got this pretty complexion and black hair that looks like it's already ready to curl up... this perfectly shaped little face and head... the fattest little cheeks... Ugh, she's just beautiful!

Kherington Michele Swader

Name:: Kherington Michele Swader
DOB:: 23 December 2008
Time:: 7am
Weight:: 5lbs 13ozs
Length:: 18 1/2 inches

Kherington is a whooping 5 1/2 weeks early!! Apparently, she just couldn't miss Christmas! I spoke with Shannon last night, and she said that they were bringing Kherington up to her room now from the NICU. That's a very, very, very good sign! It seems that baby is still doing really well and is healthy. I double checked and got confirmation that Kherington is doing everything on her own and the doctors are just observing her to make sure nothing changes. As of last night, it looked like there was a good possiblity Kherington will be home for her first Christmas!!

We Have A Niece!!!!!

Yes folks, you heard it hear first :: we have a new niece!!!

Although we're still waiting for more details, Jeff and Shannon has a baby girl this morning! :) Chris and I got a phone call last night, around 10:45-ish that they were headed to the hospital. After hearing nothing all night, Chris called this morning and left messages on his mom's cell, Jeff's cell and Shannon's cell. After a few minutes, Jeff called back saying his daughter just (literally within seconds) arrived. He obviously was a little busy, but we did get that it's a girl and she weighed in at 5 lbs 15 ozs. Jeff said that they hooked the baby up to oxygen for about 20 seconds (his words) before she started crying and breathing on her own. According to the proud daddy, being about 4 1/2 weeks early didn't stop this little girl from being healthy as far as the doctors could tell... So, fingers crossed, we have a healthy (and I'm sure very beautiful) niece! Jeff didn't say her name or how long she is or how Shannon's doing. Like I said, he was calling just about a minute after the literal birth so it's safe to say that he was a little preoccupied!

More details to come... And, we'll be visiting this weekend so expect pictures soon!

Chris' Back

When you wake up to a Marine screaming in pain and doubled over next to your bed, you know it's going to be a long day!!

After figuring out that he's not dying, making a few (very calm) phone calls to our jobs, wrestling some clothes on the both of us, and getting two confused Boxer puppies in their crates, I got to take Chris to the emergency room. I hate hospitals so this isn't as simple as it seems. Not too mention how paranoid and worried I am anyways. Luckily, it was so early on Monday morning that we didn't have to wait long. We immediately helped by the receptionist-nurse (a new thing in a super redone - and fabulous - waiting room) and only had to wait for about a half hour before Chris was called into the "screening room". He went straight back after that and was seen. Of course, they failed to ever call the worried wife pacing the now annoyling overdone waiting room. The new thing is that "visitors" don't come into the stupid screening room with you, and the front desk gets paged when the visitor for Mr.Swader is allowed to come back. Which would have been fine, if after 45 minutes, I had been called back. But instead, I had to go up and nicely (I tried my hardest at least) ask the girl if I could please see my husband yet. I was then informed that he is being discharged "right now". Of course, "right now" really means "in the next 30 minutes so your impatient ass can keep pacing". After a very long 30 minutes, Chris did come around the corner though. Stiff, uncomfortable, and wincing in pain as he walked, he was still walking to me so that we could leave the hospital.

Come to find out Chris has a knot (that's "visable to the naked eye") in the middle of his back caused by stress related back spasms. Yeah... We're still a few days shy of our 6 month wedding anniversary, and my husband has stress related back spasms!! Now they shot him up with some muscle relaxers and gave him some perscriptions and we got some of those sticky-heat-pads... He can't lift anything over 10 lbs for a week - so it's going to be intersting to see how we get the puppies in the truck Christmas to go over my parents! LOL! Not too mention that he works in a warehouse... with equipment... that has to get moved... and he's the manager... Should be fun.

Remember when I said that hopefully I'll have more exciting things to blog about?!?!? I really should have been more specific!!!

Wonders Never Cease

So after only 18 months, my dad has finally agreed that work can start on the boy's bathroom - I mean, the "downstairs" bathroom in the house! Seriously!!

Bathfitters - I'm so in love with them right now - has the contract and will be contacting us shortly to come out and get the exact measurements!! The whole bath thing should be done in about 6-8 weeks. Yay!! We went to Home Depot on Saturday and picked out all the other bathroom junk... With any luck, my dad will hear about his money today and we can start redoing the whole nasty nasty thing! And the bonus is that everything is in stock at Home Depot! With any luck, this time next month we'll have a whole new bathroom and I can start bugging my dad about the upstairs one!! :D

Seriously, it's that horrible! If you've ever been to our house, you know that I refuse to let any of the girls use that bathroom. There's a reason for that. I would say it's entirely off limits, but boys are so gross anyways... LOL!

The Very First Post...

Well... I totally stole the idea from the Townley's. (They're just so cool.) I figured with family and friends spread out and everyone having such busy lives, this would be a really nice way to keep up with everyone. Or, at least, for everyone to stay updated with us! We are notoriously bad at keeping in touch regularly... Pretty much, I kinda see this as being where I just ramble on and on, all the while telling Chris what I'm doing. I don't see him doing much of the posting, being so talkative and all that. LOL! So you'll probably just get the my lovely rants. Aren't you lucky?!?!

What to say, what to say? You'd think as much as I talk that I'd have no problem running on for hours here! Yet, I find myself struggling to find something I deem worthy of posting. Like I need something ubber important to announce or update everyone on... No pressure or anything. :) I guess we'll have to wait and see, as I progress further into the blogging world! LOL!

For now, I'll just say "Merry Christmas!!" and call it done! :)

Baby Gets a Face, Mommy Gets Insomnia

Officially 6 weeks pregnant!!! Yay!! Only about 34 weeks to go... well, only 2 weeks left until our first OB appointment. That I can get excited about now. LOL.

This is the week when my baby starts to get it's beautiful eyes and lips, it's perfect little nose and ears... He/she is also starting to "sprout" arms and legs. And as I think about this, it's no wonder why I suddenly have trouble falling asleep at night!!

Not that I'm not dead tired or fighting to stay awake for the majority of the day, but I just can't seem to fall asleep easily. I always thought that wouldn't happen until I was like 8 and half months along... the anxiety of meeting my baby. Yet, I lay in bed wondering if the baby will have green eyes like my mom or golden brown like my husband. Will the baby have the German nose Chris is so scared of passing on, or the button nose that I have? Will the baby have the bleach blond hair that Chris had when he was little, that my cousin sported until he was in his late teens, that wasn't far off of other cousins or my brother or my nephew's hair when they were born? Or, will the baby have the jet black hair of the Italians from my sperm donor's (or, techinally called, my biological father) side? Will the baby be tall and skinny like my family or stocky like Chris' family? Will the baby's hair be curly or straight, or will we have to wait until the baby turns 3 years old to see a single hair - like me? Is the baby getting the extra long monkey toe that's so predominant in my husband's family?!?!

Yeah, that's what I think about as I try to fall asleep! I can't help it. Chris even reads to me - a chapter of Harry Potter. Of course, that started when my grandmother passed in March and the wedding was only 3 months away... I couldn't sleep then either, and that was an easy way for me to zone out and "concentrate" on something, freeing my mind of the millions of other things running around in there. And yes, I do know I'm spoiled. And yes, I do know that my husband is amazing! :)

I guess it's nice to dream though... To play with the different ideas of what our baby could look like or the personality he or she could have. It's nice to think that the baby will share my passion of this and my husband's passion of that. To laugh that as a way to rebell, our baby will probably like the Pittsburgh Steelers - although that's not really funny and is already deemed well deserving of punishments! LOL!

I guess for now, there are worse things that I could be wondering about every night.

Frosty = Nausea

Well so much for not getting any of the nausea... Of course, I was still going strong Sunday. Not a single nauseas symptom in sight. Chris and I went to the football game - which was enough to make anyone not pregnant have a wave of nausea - and I still felt fine. Well, incredibly tired, but fine. On the way home we stopped at Wendy's for something to eat. I'd been munching all day but was finally ready for a real, solid addition to my stomache. I got a hamburger and decided to splurge a little by getting a small frosty. Well Monday morning I regretted that frosty with a passion!! My stomache was in such knots all day. I finally left work a little early, figuring I could just go home and sleep it off. Apparently the little pea-baby doesn't have the same appreciation for frosties that I have. No such luck though. The nausea just continued. My stomache relaxed a little, but stayed just the same.

Now it's Tuesday and saltines aren't doing that much damage control. I'm really bad at the whole sick thing, so this isn't easy. I thought I'd do a lot better if I had to deal with the nausea, but I'm really just a big baby myself! I'm trying though. And Chris seems to think that I'm making a valiant effort.

Of course, I'm still constantly reminding myself that this newest symptom - no matter how unpleasant for me - is a very good sign. If I'm getting symptoms that means my body has deemed the baby healthy enough to keep, and is continuing the changes to prepare for the next 34 weeks or so. It makes the nausea a little easier to deal with when I think that way... The only thing that still really stinks is that nobody knows still - at work at least - so my big bag of saltines has to get thrown into a desk drawer every time I hear somebody walking past my desk. I think that's a sure give-a-way no matter how good I'm doing at not telling everyone!

So this week's lessen is that I'm totally over eating a frosty ever again. Logically, I know that the frosty itself didn't bring on the nausea that was bound to come along with my pregnancy; but I can't help but link the two together forever now. With slight sadness I say Goodbye Frosty. :)

Secrets and Symptoms

We're officially 5 weeks now, and the secret of being pregnant is NOT getting any eaiser! It's hard to not tell your friends. Plus, it's not exactly easy when you have a question but can't ask anybody becuase none of them know that you're pregnant. Not too mention that I don't particularly want to lie about it, or make up some story about a girl I know... It's just silly. But at the same time, Chris and I don't want to announce it before we know it's safe. If only our parents (and my best friend) know, then it's a lot easier if... well I don't even want to think that way, but still... Plus it's still kind of our treasure - our baby, our secret, our special little time. Soon enough the baby will belong to world and all our family and friends, so it's nice to have these few weeks where it's just us. That doesn't make the excitment any easier to keep inside though. Especially when there's so many questions!!

For now, I just have to settle with the internet and books to answer my questions. It's been so long since my best friend or my mom has been pregnant, so little things don't really stand out in their minds. Don't get me wrong, I'm SO HAPPY to have symptoms! I mean, as long as I'm getting symptoms, that means my body is preparing for the long haul with the baby; that means the baby is healthy enough for my body to keep! I can't complain about anything that assures me of a healthy baby!!! At the same time though... the itching boobs, restless legs when I'm trying to sleep, super tight muscles, crazy fatigue and little bit of heartburn isn't exactly pleasant. I'd be ok with the fatigue and heartburn. The tight muscles and restless legs wouldn't bother me either. I mean, I can't really complain about those small symptoms when (knock on wood) I'm somehow avoiding the whole morning sickness symptom. But the itchy boobs? I can't exactly sit at my desk - out in the open - scratching my boobs all day. Not too mention that when I do actually scratch them, I get this almost-burning sensation. It's not pleasant. But like I said, I'm glad that I'm getting the symptoms; I just wish there was something I could do - or knew I could do - to help make the itching not so bad.

At least our appointment is only a 3 weeks away. It'll be nice to physically see my baby!! I know it's only a little seedling right now, but it's still my baby and I can't wait to see it. Hopefully at the appointment, though, we'll get the "all clear" to announce our expectant little baby!! I don't know if I can last much longer than that!!! :)

We Told Moms

So we told our moms!! His mom called us Sunday to check in and see how everything's going... we wanted to wait until we could tell her in person, but we couldn't "hold it" any more! She just kept saying "I hope you're finding out the sex" - after all her "congratulations" and "I get another one" screams! :) She's already getting a third grandbaby around the end of January... Our baby will be her 4th total, and 2nd in one year!

My mom on the other hand went for the full blown tears route!! I just couldn't wait for her stork figurine (from her beloved Jim Shore) to come in. We were going to be spending the day with her helping put my nephew's Christmas presents together so Santa doesn't have to do it all in one night. There was no way I was keeping it in the whole day!! So we bought her a "I love Grandma" bib and gave her a card for "the grandparents-to-be". My mom started crying before she the card was all the way out of the envelope!! It was so perfect!! My dad's out of town for work, but when he comes back this weekend we're telling him. Christmas is just too far to wait for something this amazing!!! :)

First Pregnancy Rant

So in an attempt to not tell everyone I've ever met that I'm pregnant, I've been calling my husband about every 30 seconds with some new rant... Chris is amazing, but I can tell his patience is being tested already and we're only 4 weeks along! I kinda figured that this would be a good way to still rant (I really am a HUGE talker) without making him want to rip his hears off so Chris can still actually get work done! While an avid talker, I've never really blogged before, so I'm basically acting like I'm talking to somebody... Hopefully that's not too off base! :)

So, like I kinda said, we're not really telling anyone that we're pregnant until we're through the frist trimester - when it's much safer. This is the first pregnancy for both of us, so we're completely new to all this. I told my best friend... only because there's no way I could keep this secret from everyone because I'd explode! Monica, my best friend, completely flipped out. It was the perfect reaction! We are going to tell our families, but not just yet. With my parents, we're giving them an early Christmas present... my mom seriously LOVES Jim Shore; there's a figurine of a Stork that says "special delivery" on the base. When it arrives (we had to order it off the internet), we're going to put a little note in the box that says "Love Baby Swader" and then wrap it. We're looking for a bib or onesie that says something about "best uncle" or something like that to give my brother... Even though he has a little boy, this is the first time Patrick will be an Uncle!! I can't wait to see all their faces when they open thier presents!

As for my husband's family, we're waiting until the end of January/beginning of February. My bother-in-law and sister-in-law, Jeff and Shannon, are due to have their first baby then. They haven't found out what sex they're having (which drives me absolutely insane), so we're go up to Ohio when the baby arrives and meet our new neice or nephew. We're going to kind of do the whole "oh hi little boy/girl; you're going to have a little cousin to play with in August" and see who catches on. Then we're going to get something that says "I'm the big cousin" or "best cousin" or something along those lines, and give it to the baby (Jeff and Shannon). We know that will catch on really quick! LOL! But that way, we'll be able to tell all his family at once --- not an easy feat since Jeff and Shannon and my mother-in-law live in Ohio, while Ben and Michelle (my other brother-in-law and sister-in-law) live in Arizona with their two little girls, but we live in Maryland! We really want to tell them in person, so it'll be perfect!

I think that's it for now... I'm sure I'll have more soon, but I do have to work!! LOL!