Whew, time flies doesn’t it? I can’t believe the last time I talked about what was happening with my personal life and the pregnancy was in June… OOPS! I guess it’s about time for a little currently post with some life and pregnancy updates, isn’t it? Okay, I’ll get on it with it then…

Currently in August…

Reading… I’m in between books currently, but I just finished A Season of Storms by Susanna Kearsley. I’ve been on a streak of her books recently, having listened to Named of the Dragon and The Firebird not long before that one. I’m seriously contemplating trying to get through all of her books before the end of the year, and next up would be The Winter Sea. I own it in paperback, but with so little time to sit and actually read, I think I’ll use an audible credit to just grab the audio book because it’s been on my list forever…

Watching… I’m trying and failing to keep up with GOT since C doesn’t watch it with me. I do have him watching Pretty Little Liars on and off (he’s losing interest haha!) with me, and otherwise we’re watching Master Chef or Chopped together.

Drinking… I’ve recently added coffee (one-which is still not enough haha) back into my diet and man I’m glad… But otherwise I’m just trying to get a semi-decent water intake going on, and rootbeer too. Funny story, I don’t really like rootbeer as an adult, but the baby does. I guess that’s my one real pregnancy craving. lol

Feeling… Tired, but better on the sick front. I’m no longer nauseous all day, and I’m managing to actually get some things done here and there. Other than being tired, my back hurts-a lot. lol

Planning… To get the house all clean and organized before the end of the month.

---

August Life & Pregnancy Updates

Things have been going pretty alright for C and Me lately. We’ve been working hard to get some updates done around the house so it’s ready not only for the baby, but for when we finally get more time with his boys and get to have them over to the house. Plus, my nesting has finally kicked in and I’ve been excited to finish some projects around my house, which as you all know got a little out of control due to first working two jobs, second my grandmother moving and sending a ton of stuff over to my house, and third feeling like complete dog-poo for the first 19 weeks of my pregnancy. It’s coming together slowly but surely, and I’m so excited.

It’s a Girl!

Did I mention we’re having a girl? Oh man, we are SO excited. C has two boys already, and they both said they’d like a sister, so we were really ecstatic to get to tell them the ultrasound showed they’re getting what they want. We couldn’t be more excited to be welcoming a girl into our home come December.

The Ultrasound Findings

We had our 20 week ultrasound a few weeks ago and the baby looked mostly healthy and happy. She was moving like crazy, and the ultrasound tech seemed surprised by how much she was moving. She just kept saying “this kid is going to keep you running, better be prepared momma!” The baby also did not like being poked and prodded, so it took us a good half hour to get her to show us that she was indeed a girl.

Choroid Plexus Cysts

The ultrasound also turned up something called Choroid Plexus Cysts. They’re two little cysts in the Choroid Plexus part of the baby’s brain, and it’s perfectly normal in 1-2% out of all healthy babies. 1-2% seems like a very small number, but that’s roughly 1 in every 50-100 babies, and if you think about how many babies are born or that the doctor sees on a weekly basis, it’s not that small.

Possible Trisomy 18 Indicator?

However when it’s not present in a healthy baby, it’s also an indicator of Trisomy 18, which is kind of like a severe form of down syndrome. Babies with Trisomy 18 rarely survive birth, and those that do rarely live past a year. What was fascinating in my research regarding Trisomy 18, which I’d never heard of before that doctor’s appointment, is that there are actually a few survivors with Trisomy 18 out there. In 2013 there was even an article about a boy with Trisomy 18 who turned 21 which is kind of amazing…

Genetic Testing Options

However, babies with Trisomy 18 who present with Choroid Plexus Cysts almost always show other signs. Things like clubbed feet, cleft palate, not being able to open/close their hands, abnormally small heads or limbs, etc. My baby shows no other warning signs, and measures perfectly. While the doctor did her best to say it’s not impossible, she also tried to say how unlikely it was that we’d be seeing these. We were offered genetic testing to find out for sure, or for 99% sure anyway, but we have for now turned it down.

Why We Turned Down Genetic Testing

Honestly, the genetic testing turned out to be a high-out of pocket expense, and while the results could come back and make us feel better and nearly sure she doesn’t have any abnormalities, they could also come back with possibilities and just cause me to stress and worry for the rest of the pregnancy. The truth of the matter is that there isn’t anything we could do about it if she does have an abnormality, it would be too late to take any action against birth, and we’d agreed we wouldn’t do that anyway in our case.  Plus, the likelihood that she has it is less than 1%, and she’s so strong and active I have a hard time believing she could have such a limiting disorder. She’s strong, I can feel her moving regularly, and she looks absolutely perfect in every other way.

Baby Shopping

We’ve been steadily preparing for baby shopping. Picking up an outfit or item here and there for her, including baby books and the adorable dinosaur shoes shown above. We picked up a crib, bassinet/cosleeper, and high-chair second-hand from a friend selling theirs and we need to start registering and preparing for our baby showers.

Spending Time with the Boys

On another note, we’ve been working hard to get more time with C’s boys. It’s been a bit of a battle, but we’ve gone from 2 hours unsupervised to 6, and we go back in on the 24th to see if we can’t get standard parent time. Our little Saturday visits have meant quite a lot of fun adventures this summer.

Art Festival and Leonardo

For our first visit we took them to the Utah Arts Festival where they got to paint and play, and then we went into The Leonardo. They were able to explore the airplane exhibit and pretend to fly a real airplane, and then play with legos and other brain-game activities. The also got to end our visit with a trip to the splash pad and some delicious shaved ice.

Bowling, Gaming, and Mini-Golf

For our second visit we took them to Fat Cats, which is a family center here that includes arcade games, bowling, and glow-golf. We bowled a game, played in the arcade, ate some pizza, and did glow-golf with the kids. It was such a fun activity.

The Planetarium

For our third visit we took the boys and met up with Kristina and her kids at the Clark Planetarium downtown. We took them to an educational star show, which they were fascinated by, and then explored the little exhibits and space stuff the planetarium has to offer. It was a blast!

Our First Longer Visit

The weekend before last we had our first longer visit, and boy did we fill it full! We spent a few hours at the Aquarium, then we went to dinner at Chilis (we let the boys choose), then we hit up Pirate O’s to explore imported candy, then went for fro-yo, and finally finished it off playing at the park. I was so exhausted by the end of the visit, but we all had SO much fun and it was so great to get to bond with the boys more.

Home & Garden Updates

As I mentioned earlier, we’ve been working really hard to get the house in good shape. C has been working really hard to take care of the yard work, he’s weeded, cleaned up after the dog, mowed (thanks to my awesome grandparents for giving us their lawn mower), and been in charge of all the watering lately. It’s looking better, though it still has a long way to go. Luckily for me, my nesting has kicked in and I’ve been getting projects around the house done. Such as the top two rows of my china hutch (above) and I’m so in love with how they turned out.

Our Garden

Most of you know I’ve been talking about having a garden since I bought my house, and we finally got one set up… I mean, it was like the fourth of July when we went and finally got it done, so it’s super late for our garden, but at least we got it started.

What We Planted

We planted four different types of tomatoes, a zucchini squash, and a spaghetti squash plant and set up our garden in a little raised bed.

Our Garden Currently

Currently the garden is getting big and bushy, and the rains lately have helped quite a bit. All we’ve gotten so far is four of the small tomatoes, but man they tasted good! I can’t wait to get more!

The Boys’ Room

Another great project we’ve gotten done so far is the second bedroom for the boys. We’ve been collecting things for the room over the past year, but finally got it all set up and ready to go in hopes that we start getting them for more visits. After talking to the boys we decided they wanted a Space and Dinosaurs themed room, which is right up our alley.

The Boys’ Beds

We wanted the boys to each have their own bed, and since we got a crib and a bassinet for the baby, we’ve set it up now so that the older one has the twin bed and the littler one can sleep in the toddler bed (the crib converts) until baby girl is ready for it. We figure she’ll spend a good 6 months in the bassinet/co-sleeper before we need to move her to the crib, and at that time we want to get some bunk beds for the boys.

How have you been lately?