Catching on Pregancy Progress & Reflecting on Some of 2009

I have fallen short on updating on the progress of our pregnancy with Baby Tristan. I thought I'd take a few minutes to write about the past couple of weeks (ok, months) :)

Our life has been a little stressful with Chris lay off, but we have survived. My tummy has grown and grown, and I have grown more and more in love with a baby whom I've never met. I have had all sorts of cravings--I hate to mention, because they aren't exactly the best foods for an expectant mom. But here they are: chocolate (really any kind), fruit roll-ups (crazy hugh!), Coca-Cola (I read 1 is ok a day)--funny because I didn't even really like Coke before, who knew! Oh, and ice cream, cheese sticks (frozen ones that you cook and then they are uwe-goey-delish--melt in your mouth! These things rock!

Chris and I have been seeing Dr.Young mostly every 2 weeks but as we drew closer to the end, we saw him every week. I get a little irratated by these apts, only because I feel as though they are a bit meaningless. We get dressed, drive over there, wait in the waiting room for 1/2 hour to hour then see him (the Dr) for like maybe 5 mins. It is important --I know. It's just that sometimes it doesn't feel important.

We had our baby shower, which was very nice. We soon discovered who cared enough to show up, or at least rsvp that they couldn't make it. I was very hurt by some that didn't bother to show up.

I am still battling with my hurt and disapointment of friends that fell off the face of the earth. I continue to pray for reconciliation, but have begun to realize that some friendships are just not meant to last forever and there is nothing I can do about it.

We made it through the Christmas Holidays, we put our tree (with the help of our dear friend Mark), it looked beautiful. Chris decorated with lights outside, it looked really nice. We spent one evening going to look at Christmas lights in a subdivision I used to visit with my parents when I was real young. I remembered it being "majical". Well, times have changed. We packed up the car, blanket, pillow, and Gracie and headed to see the "majical lights". The community isn't close, so Chris was a bit apprehensive to drive all that way, but I begged and he gave in. So we we were off, and finally finding our way into the community we soon discovered, indeed things had changed. The majic was not as I remembered. We made the best of it, even stopping by a gas station to grab a warm drink of coco and a sprite for me. We weaved in and out of a few streets, a there were a few homes who's lights captured our attention for a few brief moments. Quickly though, we decided to head home. We laughed about the experience, but surely won't be going back. We also decided that due to not knowing when baby would arrive, we would stick close to home for Christmas day. I know this was hard on Chris and his family. We went to my Mom & Dad's for Christmas day, we had a really nice and relaxing time. Lunch was great and we wnjoyed sitting around an visiting with family. We did not have allot of money this year, actually we had already any, so gifts were not given this year. We did however buy a gift for us (using the Best Buy Credit Card)--we bought a video camera. Not the best of the best, but one that is still HD and affordable. We wanted it for the baby's arrival and for capturing special moments of Tristan's life. We were very happy and very excited to purchase this gift. We did not buy for anyone else, well, I take that back, we did not Gracie a few treats and a toy. I even wrapped them and on Christmas Eve she (well we helped a little) opened one gift (just as I used to be able to open one gift on Christmas Eve when I was little--special memories I will always treasure), and then she opened the next gift on Christmas Morning. we really enjoyed watching her, it was adorable. She loved them!
We even captured it on video and took some cute pics. Christmas was very different for us this year, we were more focused on the true meaning of the season, and boy was it awesome! This year more than ever, I was focused on my Lord, and the birth of Jesus. I felt more blessed than ever. It was strange and cool being pregnant, I thought often how Mary felt. I pondered allot of her experience and how different it was than mine. Over all, we had a wonderful Christmas, although, just like every year, it came and went--way too fast.

New Years Eve was very different than that of celebrations past. Being pregnant, we did not do much. We visited with nieghbors on the culdesac and watched them pop some fireworks. We were in bed around 11:30 PM and laughed about how tired we were and old we felt. We laughed realizing we'd never been in bed at this time for NY's, but we were content, we were happy. At midnight we kissed and wished each other a happy new year. We both praised God for our blessings and prayed for a better year than the last. Knowing that the past 2 years had been quite tough, we hoped and prayed for a better 2010.

For my birthday, we were poor, so we couldn't do anything. But Chris did a very good job communicating his love for me, and wishing me birthday wishes and cuddling and snuggling with me. The next day (we finally got paid) and went out to eat at Lupe Toritillas, it was really good. Turning 32, I felt proud to be an expectant Mom, finally! I felt very blessed, I had the best birthday gifts ever, I was married to the best man ever and was expecting a baby boy!! How much better could it get?

So back the pregnancy updates...
We spent a day in L&D a little scared about the baby. I had been feeling bad and knew once I was checked out at the hospital why (I had 2 infections) and was treated for those with IV anitbiotics, and given fluids. I somehow though kept contracting with regular and some pretty strong contractions. The Dr said that 36 weeks was still too soon to have the baby and he stopped labor with 3 shots of Terbutilin and one pill. The medicine was strong and made me shake uncontrollably, but the nurse gave me meds to counteract the meds, and these helped. The Dr had planned and scheduled the cerclage removal for the next week, but he decided to remove it that evening instead. It was a horrible experience. Chris had gone home to get our bags, in case the baby came (we were told there was a good chance he would come shortly after they took it out). He wasn't able to make it back in time to hug and kiss me before the Dr took me back to the operating room...this was bad. I had a really hard time, I needed to see Chris before and not seeing him made me more nervous. I was terrified, I don't know why, I just was. They gave me a spinal block instead of putting me under, and I hated it. I did not do well with the spinal. It hurt really bad. I cried allot and felt so scared. I prayed, and waited for it to be over. This experience with the spinal block made me a little nervous about the epi for when I deliver. I am working through the nervousness and praying for a better experience. Anyways, I was brought back to my own room, where we stayed for a few hours to see if I'd go into full force labor, which I didn't. Dr Young asked me if I wanted to stay overnight and I told him no. I had a terrible reaction to the meds and spent hours really itchy, it drove me crazy!!! Finally we were released and on our way home. I was so happy to finally be home in our bed, I was so comfy!

-Darla