Monday January 30, 2012 - 31.5 Weeks

This morning I woke up and I was bleeding. I called Dr. Castilla's office to let them know and to see what I should do. The nurse told me to come in right away so they could make sure that baby was okay. I called Rich and told him not to panic but that we needed to go to the doctor and get checked out. Dr. Castilla checked me to make sure that my cervix wasn't dilating and it wasn't thankfully but wanted to do a Fetal Fibronectin test and that checks the cervix area for cells that indicate preterm labor is imminent. Unfortunately because I was bleeding so heavily, the test couldn't be performed because it would have produced a false/positive result. Dr. Castilla decided to go ahead and send me over to the hospital so that I could be monitored on their machines for contractions and to get a non-stress test to make sure the baby was okay. We spent the rest of the day at the hospital getting monitored by ultrasound and by the contraction monitor and fetal heartbeat monitor. All the results from the tests came back great and they couldn't really figure out why I was bleeding. Everything was fine with the baby, and that is all I was concerned with. We got a taste of how it would be in the hospital when the big day comes and we were really happy with the nurses and the overall treatment that I received at the hospital. Dr. Castilla called and asked me to come back on Thursday to check back in.

Thursday January 26, 2012 - 31 Weeks

We are finally starting on Tatum's nursery! I am absolutely thrilled! Melissa is going to paint the room for us. We decided on big, horizontal stripes in light pink and cream and the accents, etc. will be in pink, cream and brown. The furniture is all dark brown and Melissa is also making the bed skirt, drapes and blankets. I'm making letters to hang over her crib for her name and making a few things to accessorize the room. I can't wait to see the final product but here are some pictures of what it looked like to begin with, during the process, and of Rich putting the crib together.

Thursday January 19, 2012 - 30 Weeks

Hooray, we made it week 30! We are so excited! We had another ultrasound today to check Tatum's growth and she is doing fantastic! She now weighs 2 lbs 14 ozs! She is getting so big! We were so excited to get a good 3D image of her face and the little stinker would not cooperate again! She is head down, spine up and the technician said that she needs to be face up to get a good image of her face. She also said that the position of the placenta makes it more difficult as well. So, at this point I guess we will have to see her beautiful face when she emerges from my body! She just wants us to be surprised. :) We did get a good 2D image of her face though. We just know she will be a cutie pie!

Everything is going really well. I'm still feeling pretty good. I'm getting bigger so I have noticed the little thing's are starting to get harder, like tying my shoes. It's getting a little uncomfortable bending down for too long. The only bad thing is that I have failed my initial 1 hour glucose tolerance test so now I have to go back next week and take the 3 hour test. :( I am so bummed because I feel so icky when I have to fast and then drink that awful beverage. I just hope and pray that I will pass that test just fine. I have now graduated to seeing Dr. Castilla every 2 weeks! I believe that I will see her every 2 weeks until week 35, and then I will see her every week until Tatum arrives. :) I also got my Rhogam shot last week. I got this shot because I have B- blood w/ RH negative factor so if Tatum has positive blood, my red blood cells could attack hers so the shot makes that not happen. If she does have positive blood, I will then have to get another Rhogam shot after she's born to protect any future babies that I may have.

We planned on taking a "Baby-Moon" this coming weekend to San Diego but I decided this week that I am just not up for it. A "Baby-Moon" is supposed to be a last trip before the baby come with just the two of you. I don't feel like making the trip through the desert over there in the car for that long. I also feel like there's not a lot that I can do since I am pregnant and I don't feel like doing a whole lot of anything these days so I figured we may as well stay home and save our money.

Jennifer, Debbie, and Ashley are now planning my baby shower and I can't wait! It will be on February 19th at our house and I'm sure it will be a great time. I will give more details as they come about.

All in all, this pregnancy has been pretty great so far and I can't complain too much, thankfully! Here's another pic of my growing belly this week…

Tuesday January 17, 2012 - 29.5 Weeks

Today Rich and I met Tatum's potential new Pediatrician, Dr. Aleta DaSilva. She was referred to us by our friend, Mandy Evans. She seemed very nice and was open to my desire to utilize an alternative vaccination schedule. I am petrified of loading up Tatum with tons of shots in one day. Dr. Sears, who is a well known Pediatrician, offers an alternative schedule so that parents can break up the shots into separate visits and not get all of them at once. I would like to follow this schedule and Dr. DaSilva seems to be on board with that. Hopefully when the time comes she will be able to stick to that.

Friday January 13, 2012 - 29 Weeks

I had my appointment with Dr. Castilla on Monday and baby Tatum is doing great! I love going to my OB appointments because I really love Dr. Castilla and I really, really, really love listening to Tatum's heartbeat on the doppler. It is truly the sweetest sound. Even though I can feel her move around everyday, it still feels so great to hear her heartbeat. It just really makes my day so sweet. :) Today Rich and I bought Tatum's dresser for her room. It is so cute and it goes with the crib that we already bought. It is so fun to get all the pieces for her room. I am finding cute little thing's to put into her room at various stores. I am having so much fun decorating her room and I really hope she will like it. It's going to be pink, cream and brown. It's feminine but I don't want it to be overly "girly". I keep joking that she will end up being a tomboy and hate real girly things. If she does, it's just fine. I will let her be whomever she wants to be. I will love and accept her for who she is no matter what. Always.

Jennifer and I took a knitting class tonight. It was pretty ridiculous. So far I have absolutely no knitting skills. I keep thinking that I would like to be able to knit Tatum something really cute someday but after tonight, I'm not so sure. :) I know it will just take practice and time and I will get it. It's just finding the time to practice now that I have so many things going on. Here is the latest picture of my baby bump that I took of myself in the bathroom at home. :)

Sunday, January 8, 2012 - 28 Weeks

Today Rich and I decided to go to The Phoenix Zoo. We wanted to go one last time before we had Tatum with us. We had a really great time and walked around the whole Zoo until I got too tired. The one really annoying thing was all the bathroom stops that I had to make along the way! Tatum is really sitting on my bladder and I have to go to the bathroom constantly so that was pretty challenging finding enough bathrooms along the way! :) We saw so many amazing animals and our favorite was the baby and mama Orangutan's, of course. They were so cute!!

Sunday January 1, 2012 - 27.5 Weeks

HAPPY NEW YEAR!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! Rich wanted to take a picture of me the first day of the year Tatum would be born. Here is my belly bump for New years Day!!!