Well, the cat is out of the bag! We have another boy on our hands!!! Don't ask about a name, because we can't agree. The baby shall remain nameless for now. We are so excited for Jax to have a baby BROTHER! 

My co-workers were kind enough to throw a party for me to announce the gender, it was so thoughtful and I really enjoyed it. My momma made the adorable cake of course, and everyone brought yummy food! 

That is all a pregnant lady needs after all, correct? Cake and food. 

And pictures of my mothers lovely cake! 

Specialist

We had a meeting with the specialist today for babies SUA. Overall the redid my anatomy scan to confirm everything looked normal, which it did (other then the SUA of course). Baby was facing my back, which made it hard to get good images.. BUT we did get to see baby in 3-D this time, which was nice. 

The specialist again explained what SUA was, and went over how they plan to monitor the baby from here on out.. They explained that if the baby does not grow as they would like, I would likely be put on best rest and put on a high protein diet. Luckily for me, all I eat these days in egg sandwiches and bean burritos! 

16 weeks

Well we are 16 weeks now! I could not wait a moment longer to know the gender of our little person. We paid for a private scan, and got to see our baby again! We aren't announcing the gender just yet... but stay tuned!

Twenty Thirteen

Twenty Twelve was a big year in our family... We became a family! Colton and I got engaged in the last week of Twenty Eleven, we were married on March 3, 2012.. and We welcomed and wonderful new baby boy into our lives on June 17, 2012. With all the new exciting things going on... it was so easy to blog! After we got settled in our happy new lives, I got lazy!

But that is not to say that Twenty Thirteen was not just as excited and huge for our family! We had a lot of wonderful moments.. including celebrating Jaxon's FIRST birthday, my parents moved across the country to Virginia, we found out were expecting baby number TWO, I miscarried, and we decided to take the plunge and follow our family to Virginia!!!

I am so excited for the rest of our lives as a family. We learn and grow so much every year, and I cannot believe I didn't take more notes on our experiences in Twenty Thirteen. But, I did get a lot of pictures! so pardon me while I share a years worth of memories in one post!!

If you haven't seen the Lorax, we did a Lorax party for Jaxon's first Birthday. He has ALWAYS loved that movie. Thank goodness for Pinterest! I think it turned out so cute! We used striped straws and yarn for the truffula trees on the smash cake and the cupcakes. I then made large trees for the tables out of washi tape and feathers. 

We did it at our apartments pool with a Barbecue. We just had close friends and family. It was really fun! Jaxon loved his little floaty. And he has always loved the pool, thank goodness... because in AZ it is a must!! 

Then of course, my sister Whitney got married!! So Jaxon and I went to North Carolina for the wedding!

 It wasn't long after we got back that I started to think I was pregnant. I have always been terrible with keep track of my cycles... but it had been a while and my face was breaking out like crazy!! So we took a test.. and much to our surprise I was expecting!! However, after 2 or 3 weeks of trying to get the baby on the ultrasound, doctors determined that the pregnancy was not successful. After weeks of waiting for my body to miscarry on its own, I had a D&C in December. I would have been 12-13 weeks at the time.

But at least we got some nice family pictures....

Just weeks after my surgery... we decided to move to Virginia!! So we packed out bags, quite our jobs, and off we were! So we never ended up spending a Christmas alone! In fact, we got to see my brother Brock who has been in the Marines since he turned 18 in July.

Bringing Sexy Back

Man, if anything makes you have post-partum depression it is your own self image. I cannot even describe how hard it is to be soooo excited to get to wear your clothes again... and a bikini... only to find out they still don't fit. And as soon as you hit the six week mark to be able to hit the gym and calorie counting... they pop a birth control in your mouth and BAM. Hello to ten more pounds. And those beautiful lucious locks you got from pregnancy? All the prenatals in the world won't keep the post pregnancy hormones from turning that into a dry disaster. Forgive my ranting. 

Stretch marks, Cellulite, sagging, you name it. Every womans nightmare.. and I got it in one clean swoop. But I am not going to let that drag me down! I have started a work-out. I have taken before pictures, and I plan on taking after pictures. I just hope it doesn't take me as long as some other women. All I have to say is I am super jealous of all those women out there who have multiple children and might aswell model for Victoria's Secret. But I think it will feel AWESOME to have really worked for it.

Preggo problems!

Being pregnant is stressful... especially towards the end when you are uncomfortable and excited for the arrival of your little angel. For me personally, it always seemed like their was some stressor to freak me out and antsy for the arrival of my little boy.

Last week the doctors said there was a chance I could have what is called Cholestasis of pregnancy, which is a rare condition that effects the gall bladder and other organs in pregnant women causing severe itching in the third trimester. My stomach itched so bad I was BLEEDING from excessive scratching, and as much as Colton tried to stop me, I couldn't help it. This rare event can cause complications with the pregnancy including increased risk of a stillborn. Tell any pregnant woman that at 37 weeks and of course she would freak!

After bugging doctors to accelerate blood work that would have otherwise taken weeks, we barely cleared that hurdle to run into yet another. At my 38 week check up my blood pressure was elevated and there was protiens in my urine. These are tell-tell signs of pre-eclampsea which doctors had been watching me for ever since my downe syndrome test in my second trimester.

So I have been placed on best rest awaiting the results of more bloodwork and tests on a bunch of my pee.

In the mean time lets just hope this baby hurries up!

A ticking clock..

I am 38 weeks pregnant now. Which means I am full term. 

After this last week with a few scares and tiring itching...

I am ready for this!

The nursery is complete,

the house is spotless,

my bags are packed,

the car seat is in,

batteries are in the swing.

I have completed my nesting...

Now where is this dang baby! 

This last weekend, I danced, I walked, among other activities... I even drank CASTOR OIL. 

Can we get this show on the road please?

Maternity Photoshoot!

And of course all the credit goes to my very talented brother! @tysonfrenchphotography.blogspot.com

Scatter brained pregnant lady..

So... It's been about a thousand years since a posted a blog. And not because I haven't had anything interesting going on, I've just been purposely avoiding it so that I don't sound like I am complaining AND have to much time on my hands!

Last update, Colton and I were on our way up to a quick weekend in Utah for our second reception and a second baby shower. They were both a success (despite a tiny bit of family drama) and I would just like to mention a thank you to my mother-in-law Gina for all her hard work on both events.

Sadly however what was supposed to be a quick weekend turned into a never ending weekend for my husband, and he stayed behind to work in Vernal. I guess it's not sad that he is working or that he gets to be with his family, mainly It is sad that out of the 45 days we have been married, we have been 1000 miles apart for 16 of them.

On top of that, he doesn't get to be here for all my baby mama drama! And who doesn't want to be apart of that ;)

If all works out for him in Vernal, then I will likely be joining him after the baby comes... Which need I remind you is RAPIDLY approaching!

I am now 30 weeks pregnant (: stretch marks are in full force and so is planning! This last weekend I went through ALL the baby clothes from hand-me-downs, gifts and my own purchases and organized by size so we knew what was going to fit the baby when. I finally bought an adorable pack n' play that I can use as a crib until I am settled in a more permanent living situation, a diaper bag (which matches my car seat btw, and I have it packed and ready for take off!), and a mobe wrap. Which if you have never invested in one, all that moms I've met that use one SWEAR by it. Im a-little overwhelmed at the site of it, because it's really alot of fabric... And well you know what happens if you wrap it wrong :/

At my 28 week check up I had my glucose test. Its funny because I dreaded it after all the horror stories of how nasty the drink was... but it actually wasn't all that bad. Tasted like flat orange soda? Anyways, failed it. So I was back in the doctors last week for a much more miserable test because I couldn't eat or drink. Long story short, I passed that test and I do NOT have gestational diabetes.

 Tomorrow is my 30 weeks check up, super excited! But to tell you the truth when you are at the doctors every week, its just another checkup!

Boring married couple things

So, Colton and I were a boring couple to begin with (sorry babe) but now that I am a tired pregnant lady, andddd we aren't exactly rolling in the dough.. we are the ultimate boring married couple. This last week, we went to go get spray tans at the salon across the street (who was having a special, 3 for $30!) so we could see if we wanted one before the wedding. My cute Colton (who desperately needs a hair cut) used one of my head bands to keep his hair off his face for the spray. He looked JUST like Pauly D, I couldn't stop laughing!

He of course, has never seen Jersey Shore, neither had I really. And if you haven't... 

meet Pauly D, and all his trashy friends! We decided to start watching it. Mainly because our TV show we are currently watching is soon coming to an end, sad day. We have been watching Bones on Netflix and we are now on season 4 out of how ever many there are haha.

Oh! and Colton told me because he loves me and spending time with me, he will watch LOST with me! (: Who cares if that would be my 5th time seeing it? I'm excited!

In future you can expect our blogs to mainly be cute pictures of our little baby, and blabs about insane TV drama.

And if you were wondering how the spray tans turned out? I probably should have put more lotion on my feet before they look a little funny... hmm..
I guess you will know what we decided if we are tan at the wedding!

<3

20 weeks!

**baby update**
I just realized I have been so busy with the finalizing the wedding (which some of you told me you got the wedding announcements! that's great! I hope you liked them) and getting "after the wedding" plans situated... I totally neglected to update everyone on baby Jaxon!

As of this upcoming Sunday, I will be 20 weeks pregnant (HALF WAY!). On Monday; I had my regular check-up, which went very well.. We got to have a second ultra-sound because it was scheduled before all that other test business, and my baby boy is still looking healthy! They said he is in the 50% percentile as far as size for my stage in the pregnancy and there was no protein in my urine this time! (which means no signs so far of pre-eclampsea)

And for those of you who do not know yet, yes I have felt the baby kick! (:

A not so happy birthday surprise..

So last week was my 20th birthday, YAY ME! Not so much.

That Monday, I had my regularly scheduled check up. At this time I would  have been barely 18 weeks pregnant. I elected to perform a screening to check my risks for down syndrome (even though with my age and health history, the risks would typically be VERY low or 1 in 1400).

They do this test by drawing blood and checking the levels of four proteins your body makes during pregnancy which include  alpha fetoprotein, estriol, HCG and inhibin A.. Abnormal levels of this in the mothers blood (above or below 1%) can indicate a problem with the baby.

The most common pattern for a baby with down syndrome is a raised level of the 1st and 3rd proteins and a low level of the 2nd and 4th. 


Well... my blood test SUCKED. Two days after they performed the test, my doctors office called me THREE times. When they finally get ahold of me they informed me by test results were concerning and they would be referring me to a genetic specialist.

The next day, the specialist called me to make an appointment that day, and I went in. The specialist explained to me that the pattern and prevalence of the protein in my blood meant my baby could be in danger. My odds of having a baby with downs syndrome were 1 in 31 AND chances were, even if the baby didn't have downs syndrome.. there could be serious complications with my placenta because the levels of the 1st and 3rd proteins were so high in my blood. This likely means the placenta isn't working properly and the nutrients made for the baby are not getting to it and instead being pumped into my blood stream. This puts me at risk for pre eclampsia, which can cause liver failure and even stroke. Not to mention the baby is not receiving the nutrients it needs and will not be able to grow properly.

Imagine how much I am freaking out at this point. They tell me they will check for physical markers and clues to the babies health in a high-def ultra sound.. from that point the only definitive way of knowing if the condition of the baby was through an amniocentesis, which has a risk miscarriage.

 This is my baby at 18 weeks! Beautiful isn't he? (obviously in these images we could tell he was a boy!)

In these images, they checked for EVERYTHING. All the chambers of the heart working properly, measurements of the brain and all  the bones. They checked for common markers of downs syndrome (which include a thick piece of skin in the back of the neck, short fingers, and a flatter face)

Luckily the only thing that caused for further concern was the length of the babies femur bone.

I am still considered a "High-risk pregnancy" and they will be watching me very closely for other markers of downs syndrome and pre eclampsia. But for now I have a healthy baby boy!

A Christmas Engagement!

Colton spent Christmas with my family. Among a bunch of my families closest friends we all have a night full of games, food and Just Dance.

Christmas morning here was at my house bright and early! He had only a few gifts under the tree... but I hope he knows how hard it was for me to find those gifts! haha.

The day after Christmas he asked me if I wanted to pick out a ring. We had talked about it a lot before, but we wanted to be 100% sure we were doing what was right for us AND the baby. As much as we both wanted to be in the babies life... we didn't want it to suffer from our mistakes.

We didn't announce it to everyone until we had the rings back from being fitted and needless to say mine is beautiful!

WE ARE GETTING MARRIED!!

Hearing the Heart Beat

They say you can't hear the heart beat for 8 weeks. I found out when I was about 4 weeks pregnant. So after month or so, I set up an appointment with the OBGYN.

I had never even been to a lady doctor before, Its actually not that bad. Plus I had my mother there.

After looking at my ultrasound they decided I was actually 9 weeks and 1 day.

Due date: June 24th

Pregnant?!

You know you hear all these stories of people not knowing they were pregnant for months on end, this was not the case for me AT ALL. 3 weeks in, I knew. How would I know before a test could tell me? It is amazing how a simple creature of habit like me could notice the tiniest changes in my body.

Suddenly, my ON THE DOT sleeping schedule turned into 12/13 hour nights and a Saturday on the couch. I had no appetite for Chipotle (which NEVER happens) and I really didn't want to move. At first I was sure I was suffering for depression. And it wasn't until some *physical* changes.. a light bulb went off in my head.

I wished I had depression... I wished hard! For all you girls who grow up in strong church families (whatever religion it may be) can only imagine what I was going through.

So I made a doctors appointment. First of all, pregnancy testes are impossible to read, and I didn't even know if I was far enough along to tell with one.

The doctor's office made me pee in a cup and wait for 25 MINUTES! That is pure torture if you ask me. Then when the doctor finally did come in with the results, he beat around the bush and slid it into casual conversation! I was immediately a wreck. Mostly, actually like 99% out of fear of my parents.

The rest of the stress didn't settle until much later. But regardless I was supposed to go back to work following my appointment and it seemed nearly impossible. I called my boss and she was kind enough to talk me down, only to follow a very emotional conversation with Colton.