Baby Journey Week 21-30

June 30 - Week 21

Hannah cakes has felt him move as well! She felt him the day before she left on her mission (June 30) he was such a good nephew for her! (; Since Levi is the only one to have felt him before I was worried timing would be off, or that she would have to be really patient, but as soon as I laid down and she put her hand on my belly she felt him! Sadie claims to have felt him, and I hope she did! But I'm excited for her to feel him really kick because she's never really been around a pregnant belly. She touches my belly all the time and it is so precious to me! 

Here I am at 22:

I'm pregnant, no question about it. People can tell right away cause it looks like I have a cantaloupe stuffed up my clothes. (: I love it! I'm honestly obsessed with this tiny belly and feeling him all the time. We refer to baby by the name we think we will call him and it feels right. I love it all! (Seriously though this size was my most favorite time of being pregnant, it's obvious but not huge yet..just cute. (: This is legit where my belly obsession began.)

August 29 - Week 29
It's been a while… But not much has happened!

On the week of July 15 to the 18th (23 weeks prego) I went on a trip for my class: canyoneering! I only got to do three canyons because I was trying to take it easy on my body. The three I got to do were some of the funnest of the whole trip. I got really lucky! Most the rest of the class did 5 to 6 Canyons. The last Canyon I did was late at night and we finished by about one in the morning. I was exhausted the next day, and while everyone else went on one last canyon I slept in the car, and then we left for home. [Since this was my first time away from Levi, and for so long, I was very ready to be at home!] We finally rolled in to town at about 2:30 AM. Levi and I had to teach at church that same day and for the lack of preparation (on my part) we actually felt like we did fairly well. 

Here are a few pictures of the canyoneering trip:

Everyone was so kind to me, I was literally looked out for every step, or scoot/shimmy, of the way.

I'm the one in the middle with the blue shirt on, turned away from the camera.

Again, I am the one in blue.

Last one! I am in the orange...yes the one where the big gap of no one starts. (: Slow and steady wins the race, and I felt like a winner. This was such a fun and challenging trip!

The point of me telling the whole story, is somewhat to make up for my lack of journal writing, but also to explain how exhausted I was and how unprepared I was to be woken up Sunday (July 19/20 - Week 24) night/morning in severe pain. My right kidney was on fire! So I went to the bathroom, tried to walk it off, and then eventually tried to sleep it off. About 40 minutes later, I was awakened again by the pain. This time I knew something was wrong, and Levi woke up to help me out. He got me a heated rice pack, a drink of water, and tucked me back into bed. [Picture in your mind something like the interaction with the Grinch and Cindy Lou Who when she catches him stealing the Christmas tree. He pats her head and sends her off! It was a short encounter, and I was so tired that nothing really even made sense.]

Levi stayed up worried about me while I slept again for about another 40 minutes, and when I woke up this time Levi said "we should probably go to the doctor." I told him it was probably kidney stones, and doctors can't do much for kidney stones… They usually just send you home and tell you to wait for them to pass. But after waking up a third time in greater pain, and after Levi gave me a blessing, we decided for the baby's sake that we should probably go to the doctor. And of course the only doctor awake at four in the morning is the one in the ER. So we drove there (like 5 minutes away) and they had me pee in a cup (no strainer or anything, just a simple cup) and then I laid down and "rested" while we waited for the doctor. He came about 25 minutes after we got there and asked me a few questions, then decided to give me pain medication (morphine) and sent me on my way. He also ordered an ultrasound for my kidneys and I believe somewhat for the baby. Well… The morphine did not help one bit, it only made me feel worse! (The pain actually intensified and I got really dizzy and really tired.) So I came home and passed out until our ultrasound at 11. 

I braved life through a mandatory class and I probably looked awful but I felt awful too. The pain sort of stopped that night and didn't start again until Tuesday night (July 21). This time I was at the parents' house and she gave me a heating pad and called Dr. Meredith's wife because she has chronic kidney stones and knows a thing or two about what they are, and what to do. He and his wife came to my parents' house and Dr. Meredith said it was most likely kidney stones even though the ultrasound did not detect it. He told me to take hydrocodone, get some rest, and drink lots of fluids. So that's what I did! I hated taking hydrocodone because it did the same thing to me as the morphine did, so I resorted to sleeping and drinking lots. 

Finally on about Monday or Tuesday (July 27 or 28 - Week 25) I found a remedy, if you can call it that. I drank lemon juice, diluted in my water of course, and thought that night would be the night I gave preterm labor to my child. I was in the most pain I had been in yet. As I sat on the toilet I honestly thought that my baby would come out the pain was that intense. Luckily it didn't last all night, and it went away about an hour after I went to the bathroom. I didn't realize it then, but looking back I'm pretty sure that is the night I passed the gnarly kidney stones. [Although I think I did feel a little joggle of pain the day after this, or even two days after this.] 

Side note: I suppose looking back at how much pain I was in you could compare it to giving birth, but seriously those who say it is the same, or worse, are crazy! I honestly have period cramps that are worse, and longer lasting, than the pain I experienced. It was only a total of about 2 hours of pain, and then I felt totally normal! So if that is worse than giving birth, this should be a breeze!

So I finished finals week with kidney stones! Luckily my teachers were very considerate and let me extend the due date for my exams. 

The biggest bummer was us having to skip out on going to Blue Mountain. We did the best we could to make Rexburg exciting and adventurous. We missed the parade because of my kidney stones. But we did play ladder ball, and we even dressed for the occasion! The last few pictures of my bump progression have been forgotten [but mainly neglected] so here is my 24 weeks picture along with our July 24 dress up day. 

I know you can't tell as well as past 'bump progress' pictures, and I am sorry! This will just have to do for now. Plus, look how cute my pioneer husband is...mmmhmm!

After all my kidney stone pain was gone we went to Utah! We went to a lot of pioneer museums. It was a lot of fun! On July 30 we went to Tessa's for a Doterra party. And then we went back to the Vances for dinner. Then back home to Rexburg!

Aug 4-Week 26

Levi went to the playmill for his first time. This is also another week we forgot to get a picture of my bump so I will put two pictures so you can get an accurate idea.

Only one more "normal" bump progress picture after this one!

August 7 - Still 26 weeks

We drove to Washington! We did this for Brandon and Chelsea's pre-wedding reception. And to be with Chelsea when she went to the temple for her first time! So here's another picture of me at 26/27 weeks pregnant. [My body did fine on the car ride both ways!]

Aug 17 - Week 28
28 week appointment! This also means the glucose test… Yes, the one that everyone complains about! I did fine!! [Insert choir of angels shouting praises.] The drink was not bad at all and I passed all of the test with "flying colors." And all they had to do was prick my finger. We got to listen to baby's heartbeat just like we do every time and they measured my belly and we discussed some things about breast-feeding after an examination. Dr. Cod seems to be very confident that I will be fine breast feeding which makes me very happy! Then the same day we left to Utah where we stayed there for a week to be with family and also to go to Jake and Alisha's wedding! Yet again this was another week that we neglected to take a picture, but here is one at the wedding reception!
                                                 

Front angle of my sassy belly, for those interested.

And just because I love this picture...here is August 15 - Brandon and Chelsea's wedding!

August 31 - Week 30
I am shocked that I finally hit 30 weeks! You feel like this day will never come, and then it does and nothing really changes. (: We had another appointment, two weeks goes by really fast! Everything is going great. Dr. Meredith had to remeasure my belly because the nurse was concerned that it is too small, but he said that it was just fine! Once you get into the 30th week your belly measurement should correlate with the week. Mine was 29 cm instead of 30 cm...doesn't seem all that small to me! Also starting now I am supposed to gain a pound a week. I am right on track with my weight - not too much, not too little. [So far I have gained about 18 pounds with about 10 more to go...yay for a growing baby!] 



And we are back to normal with accurate pics in the same spot/dress. I don't want to talk about how depressing it is that we neglected taking the other weeks pics...I just hope baby isn't too bummed out that his mom neglected being perfect while I was pregnant. (;

Baby Journey Week 10-20

May 7 - Week 13

At this point I'm starting to figure out how my body reacts to certain foods and how much sleep I need. I do best when I don't eat after 8 PM, with at least 8 1/2 hours of sleep, no dairy products, and eating a meal every three hours. Turns out snacks make me feel worse because I get that much more hungry. I am starting to feel better, but I still have to pay close attention to what I eat, and when. Amber had me try vitamin B 6 and Unisom. She swore to me that it was her miracle concoction for her pregnancy with Ezra, it is supposed to ease up the nausea. So I tried it, and felt way worse than usual. I had no energy and I was very grumpy for the first time in my pregnancy. So I tried it for these last three days and decided to stop. The result of being more sleepy (and grumpy) are just not worth it for me. I am currently in my 13th week and this is about how I still look even though this picture was taken a week ago.

It's a teeny tiny baby bump! And it changes every day. My back hurts more and more and then I wake up on my back which makes it hurt even more. [Waking up on my back is very rare for me, I am a side sleeper, and always have been so I thought that I would have no problem during pregnancies with sleeping on my back, turns out I was wrong.] Also we haven't announced it on Facebook but we really don't care who finds out at this point. (: We are planning to announce it when we know the gender.

May 29-Week 16
About a week after my last posting Levi and I went to the temple, and I was pretty sure that I felt the baby move. [That would be week 14, which is very early, but now that I've gone back to the temple multiple times since then, I have realized it is where he moves the most...so I guarantee that my first fetal movement moment truly happened at week 14!] But then I didn't feel anything again until this week. And I'm still not sure if it's fetal movement or something else…it is however my only sign that this baby is even alive inside of me. That may sound silly, but when the doctor tells you he won't see you for six weeks, your stress levels about your babies health tends to go up! And I wouldn't say I'm very stressed, but it would at least be nice to know what's really going on inside me.

I have been getting the pains of "round ligaments." This just means that my body is stretching! Another sign that there is life inside of me. (: They are very low abdominal pains that come mostly when I use my muscles in my stomach. My back hurts a lot still, but I'm practically used to that by now. Anything but scrubs, skirts, and dresses hurt my stomach and make me feel even more sick. Tessa let me try her maternity pants, but even those were too tight on my belly. ): Hopefully one day things will work out!

I love second trimester! I feel like myself, and I feel like I can finally enjoy pregnancy. A few days ago, we took week 16 picture. Here it is below!

Still as tiny as ever, but it's a lot bigger than what I'm used to! I have only gained 3 pounds this whole pregnancy...so far.

I'm feeling so much better and I almost forget that I'm even pregnant. It is now July 9 and there's a lot that has happened!

June 10 - Week 18
Levi felt the baby today! Here is the belly progress:

June 15 - Week 19

Today we found out what the gender of our baby is! We went to the doctors office with our guess: girl. Levi said boy to the doctor just to be different from me… And because boy is what we really want. So she put the gel on my belly and starts to peek at our baby. No gender shot yet because babies legs are crossed. ["Typical thing for girls to do," I think to myself.] So she continues to make sure that the baby has all of its organs and limbs, including all 10 fingers and all 10 toes. We loved getting to see everything and didn't even care that we still don't know the gender while she is doing all of this. So she goes back to the legs and…

"Dad is right!!" She says. We were both shocked, and beyond thrilled. We are having a baby boy! Completely not what we thought. (-: So that night we had a gender reveal party. We put all things blue in black balloons. And had everyone wear their guess (mustache=boy & crown=girl). Almost everyone guessed girl. (;

The shock of seeing blue come out of the balloon was priceless. (-:

Here are all the GIRL guesses









And all the BOY guesses

And this is how we announced it to the world...okay okay, fine it was just the post we made on FaceBook:

And this is my belly progress at 20, just a week after we found out he is a BOY:

Again a HUGE thanks to Amber Lynn and her artistic abilities. It would take me years to figure out how to put the box on the picture...she has saved me from having to worry about that.

Baby Journey Week 1-9

Reader Warning: May contain content that you would rather not hear or see, so read and view at your own discretion. 

We first started realizing that I could be pregnant on my birthday, March 13, 2015. I was really sick. I felt like I had the flu, but really all I wanted to do was sleep. I had a headache, which is highly unusual for me. I could eat regardless of how I felt (also strange since flu-like symptoms keep you far from all the food in the world). 

The whole Vance side of the family was here from Utah to see Stephanie and Josh Winn at their homecoming and farewell. Mama Vance was listening to me describe my symptoms and she said "That's exactly how I felt when I was pregnant…" At this point we were pretty sure that something was up, but that was pretty much the final straw for us to actually do something about it. After the family left our apartment we decided that we would take a pregnancy test the following Monday. 

We both had to wake up really early on Monday (March 16th) so we figured this would be the perfect time. [Apparently taking a pregnancy test is more accurate when you take it earlier in the morning. I had taken one before, and it was late at night and I was new to the whole thing and it stayed negative for a long time, and I was sure I was pregnant-at least we had hoped! Well I wasn't at that point, but just to be sure I did everything I could to get an accurate reading.] I took the test and almost immediately a positive sign showed up. There was no immediate feeling of sheer excitement, nor of sheer terror. This is probably due to the fact that I had just woken up and it was 6 AM. I brought the stick into Levi and said, "Yep we are pregnant!" with a glazed look over my eyes, and a tired smile on my face. 

The first real sign of proof! (Sorry for the pee dribbles...sorry if you didn't see them at first and I just pointed them out...)

We sat there cuddling for a moment, silently contemplating what our near future had in store for us. Then Levi said, "Can we pray?" He offered that prayer and thanked our Heavenly Father for trusting us enough to send us a little one, to take care of them and to start growing our family! 

Even at this point excitement has not kicked in. And this made me sad. As Levi and I started to realize the reality of being pregnant, we began to contemplate all of the struggles that lie ahead of us, completely forgetting and ignoring all of the joys. We became somewhat stressed, and totally unaware of how to manage our lives. What would we do with school, work, providing for a family, sharing one another, etc.? 

That afternoon, so still on Monday, I couldn't keep our secret, so we decided that we would tell our parents! I wanted to shout it out to the whole world, but I knew no one would really care at that point unless they were those whom we loved. Since we were at school and we didn't want anyone else to overhear us saying it out loud  we shared our news by text. Mom and Dad Kivett were happy, but Mom and Dad Vance were ecstatic. This will be Mom and Dad Kivett's 21st grandbaby, but Mom and Dad Vance's very first. 

At this point in the pregnancy I believe we were five weeks pregnant, maybe even six. And morning sickness was definitely already present. Although it is not just in the morning, for me it lasts all day. It is a constant nausea. I constantly wish that I could throw up. Food is hard for me to eat, but it's the one thing that I need. 
About two days later, we decided we would tell the siblings. We knew it was early, but keeping a secret like this is way too hard, and I needed help and advice on how to handle my sickness (and stresses). So we told all of our siblings, except for Gabby and Sadie. We knew that once those two found out that we wouldn't have much of a secret anymore. Everyone was so happy! Nate and Emma were ecstatic just like Mom and Dad Vance. (: Most of my siblings weren't even surprised, and immediately started helping me know how to handle myself.
The battle rages on: I continue to feel sick, every day--all day. But for some reason my morning sickness gets even worse at night. I'm still trying to figure out what works for me. (I thought that one thing would work on everyone, but soon realized that is not the case, each woman and pregnancy is very different.) My back hurts frequently, even though this precious baby is just as big as a grape. It's amazing how well I can smell! And almost any smell is disgusting and putrid. Poor Levi can't even have fresh breath without me not being able to kiss him. He probably has the harder end of the stick dealing with me. /: He is so kind, patient, and loving! He makes me food all the time. He sits through me throwing up. He is patient all the time, especially when suggesting food.  Our love is growing for one another much more rapidly. And our love for becoming parents is right alongside that. Our joy is growing, and so is this baby! <3 

The sickness continues all the way up into our first appointment! This is now April 8 and we are nine weeks along to the day. At the first appointment, you get the first peek at the baby! They do a vaginal ultrasound, because that's the only way to see the baby. This is where it all got real, and where we actually felt like there was a human growing inside me, and not just some parasite eating up all my nutrients and making me sick. Levi almost cried when we saw our baby move, but I just swelled up with joy and excitement! Due to the measurements of the baby and my uterus we found out that we were actually nine weeks and three days, rather than just nine weeks flat. I also found out that I have a retroverted uterus. The ultrasound tech told us that this specific shot of the baby is what she calls the gummy bear shot. So that night we announced our baby to our family and friends with this simple picture:

It looks like we took a lot of time on it, but we didn't. That's just the joys of modern technology! Although photo credit does go to Hannah for taking the picture, and to Amber for having a sweet photo editor thing and teaching us how to use it. You guys rock.

And another close up of this sweet "gummy bear" cause it's that cute.