misc pictures from tom's camera

When I uploaded the pictures from the shower onto my computer, there were some other random photos on Tom's camera that I thought I'd share. We got a new camera the other day so we can take better pictures of the baby and Tom has been practicing by taking lots of photos.

This is a picture of our car in our garage. It barely fits. In fact, I have to get out of the car before Tom pulls it in because there isn't enough room to open the doors on both sides.
Here's a photo of me eating pizza at Costco. This is something that we probably do a little too often . . . It's not really the pizza that is so tempting, it's the frozen yogurt that I always get with the pizza. Yum.

Over the last few months Tom and some friends have gotten together at our apartment to play video games every week or two (and sometimes during the day while I am at work). It has been really fun for Tom and I'm glad that he has gotten to take advantage of this time before the baby is born. Actually, this week is the last time this will happen for a while so we'll have to take more pictures. Here is a picture of a couple of his friends taken while I was slaving away at work:
Tom and I are both really bothered by the number of people that steal grocery carts to bring their groceries home. They are all over the neighborhood. Every time we go for a walk we probably see a dozen or so carts scattered around the neighborhood. Here's one by the gate to our apartment complex:
And just because I think he's cute, here's a picture of Tom that I took the other day when we were playing around with his camera.

baby shower

I had a fantastic time at my baby shower last night. I was really surprised at how many people came, thanks so much to everyone. I just wish I had taken more pictures. Here's a couple that Tom took before the shower:

I look HUGE in that second picture. However, I realized the other day that even at 37 weeks pregnant I still weigh about 5 pounds less than I weighed after my freshman year of college.

My wonderful friend Ashley actually made the cake (Thank you!). It was beautiful and delicious :)

TWO WEEKS!

You may notice a slight change in the countdown to the right. I just got back from my weekly appointment and we scheduled the c-section for April 22nd at 8am. That is two weeks from today. For my entire pregnancy the midwife kept telling me that I would likely be at least a week late, so mentally I was preparing for early May, but April 22nd is basically a week early so I am kind of freaking out right now.

On the bright side, my wonderful friends Emily and Betsey are throwing a shower for me tomorrow night and I am really excited. I am so lucky to have such wonderful friends :)

humor

Tom has a peel-off calendar with lawyer humor that he received from his mom for Christmas this last year. As we were cleaning up the man-baby room earlier, we looked through several pages and came across this quote from Jon Stewart that we thought was pretty funny:

"Some scholars have argued [that] the Constitution clearly states only Congress can declare war, and they are not allowed to simply delegate that authority to the president. However, you can get around that with the legal technique of taking the word constitution and adding the word shmonstitution to the end of it."

failure :(

Well, Tom and I spent most of the day at the hospital. We got there at 8 and the version was supposed to be at 9, but the doctor had to do an emergency c-section on someone and then we had to wait for the anesthesia department to be on call in case we needed them, so we didn't leave the hospital until almost 3 this afternoon. Unfortunately, they were unable to get the baby to turn. They tried for about 10 minutes and I have to say, it was pretty disturbingly painful. The doctor said to expect some pretty major bruising on my abdomen. Thank goodness Tom was there with me. I had been warned that it would be uncomfortable, but more than that the idea of someone pushing that hard on my stomach was horrible. I am glad that we gave it a try, but the doctor said that for a variety of reasons I am not really a good candidate for the version in the first place (this is my first pregnancy, my amniotic fluid levels are on the low side of normal, and the placenta is anterior).

So now my options are to either schedule a c-section or to wait until I go into labor and have a c-section done. I am pretty sure that I am going to schedule the c-section since I really liked the doctor who attempted the version and I would like to have him do the c-section (I have been seeing midwives so now I have to switch to a doctor). I am trying to look on the bright side of things, but overall am still pretty upset about everything. I know it will still probably be okay and this isn't the end of the world, but that doesn't mean that I can't be ornery about it.

In other news, I completely forgot to mention that last week was our second anniversary. We spent a lovely evening together and enjoyed some pizza and frozen yogurt from Costco. The last two years have been amazing and I'm so lucky to have such a wonderful husband :)

update

Yesterday was Cesar Chavez day so I was lucky enough to have the day off work. Tom and I went for a nice walk along Venice Beach. It had been a while since we had been there, and I had forgotten how many crazy people there are wandering around. There was this one guy walking around singing "Jingle bells, jingle bells, get me drunk today." Ha ha. Anyway, here's a picture of my handsome husband and one of me looking huge.
I had intended to take Thursday off so I could have a nice four day weekend to run errands and take care of things . . . but we have decided to try the version to see if we can flip the baby, so I'm taking this Tuesday off instead. My appointment is on Tuesday morning, so please keep us in your prayers. I have to be at the hospital at 8am. They are going to monitor the baby for about an hour, then try to flip the baby (which should only take about 10 minutes) and then regardless of whether the attempt is successful, I have to stay in the hospital for a few more hours so that they can make sure I'm not having any contractions and make sure that the baby is okay. The midwife said that she said there is about a 50-60% chance that it will work, so we're keeping our fingers crossed. I'll post on Tuesday after my appointment and hopefully we'll have some good news . . .

stubborn child

A few weeks ago I had an ultrasound at which the tech commented that the baby was breech, but that I still had plenty of time and she would definitely flip over soon. Then about three weeks ago I had another ultrasound at which I was told that the baby was breech, but again that I shouldn't worry because most babies turn between 32 and 34 weeks. Then at my 34 week appointment last week I had another ultrasound and the baby is still breech! The chances that she will turn at this point are pretty slim, so the options that my midwife gave me are moxibustion or seeing a chiropractor (neither of which my insurance covers) or I can try to have a doctor do an external cephalic version sometime in the next couple of weeks or have a C-section at 39 weeks. Anyone have any advice?

34 Weeks

(Click on the photos below to view a larger image)

A weekend where we actually did some stuff

I'm not going to lie - Tom and I have been sitting around like a couple of lazy bums for the last few weeks. This doesn't really give me an excuse for not updating the blog because I have had time to update, I just haven't had anything to update it with. I'm exhausted, we were both sick, I've been having trouble sleeping which means we've both been having trouble sleeping, and my feet and hands are swelling a little more every day. We have accomplished a few things on my to do list: we watched the first three seasons of Lost and I cleaned out and organized most of the man-baby room, but neither of these things haven't actually required leaving the apartment. So this weekend we wanted to get out and get some fresh air.

Friday after work we went to Santa Monica to the beach and to do a little shopping. The weather in LA had been perfect for the last few days (not too hot, not too cold and sunny) and we had a great time walking along the beach and wandering around the promenade.

Then yesterday we got up and went to the temple and then went to Westwood for some Chipotle and brownies. Tom loves Chipotle and when we lived in Westwood we really wished there was one nearby since the other two closest options are in Beverly Hills and both have difficult parking situations, but now that we've moved they have opened one up so we decided to check that out. It was delicious.

Overall, we have had a very nice weekend. Also, the other day when I was at CVS I saw an actress from one of my all-time favorite TV shows, NewsRadio. She played the secretary, Beth (the one with the red hair). This brings our celebrity citing total to: Dr. Rey, Rick Gomez, Eva La Rue, Eddie Izzard, Zac Efron, Vanessa Hudgens, and Tom has seen Wolfgang Puck and Jake Gyllenhall.

Speaking of celebrities, some of you may have seen this article which has been one of the headlines on msnbc.com for the last couple of days. Don't worry, I'm not one of these people. In fact, these people have to be morons because the day Britney Spears was admitted to the hospital all of the employees were sent at least three or four emails warning us that if we looked at her medical records we would be fired. I just thought it was interesting how much press that this was getting.

Also, speaking of running into people, I had a really random experience last weekend. Tom has been waiting for this Wii game to come out (Super Smash Brothers) and we went to Best Buy to see if we could pre-order it, but they weren't taking preorders but said they were having a mid-night opening on Saturday and we could get it then (Tom does not want me to include this part of the story since he thinks it makes him sound dorky, but I think it's a relevant and necessary part of the story). So Saturday at midnight I consented to accompany Tom to Best Buy to pick up the game, however THEY WEREN'T OPEN. I don't know what that employee had been thinking earlier in the week, but they apparently weren't having a midnight opening. So we decided to head over to the Best Buy in Westwood to see if they were open. They weren't. But while we were there I decided to run into Ralph's and pick up some milk (Note: we live within a few blocks of four grocery stores and I never go shopping at this Ralph's). So I walked in the door and I saw this guy from my freshman ward at BYU standing in the produce section. He had just flown in from Utah to check out the math grad department at UCLA and we just so happened to be in the same grocery store at 12:30 in the morning. So random. What is really interesting to me is how often things like this have happened to me over the last few years, but we will have to save those details for a future post. It really is a small world.

Anyway, I could write an entire post right now about how frustrated I am about trying to choose a name for the baby. We are both somewhat indecisive (to say the least). We always take way too long to order in restaurants and then usually regret our decisions after we've made them, but now we have to choose a name which is very permanent and very scary. At this rate, her birth certificate will probably just say Baby Girl Jackman.

32 Weeks

Sorry it has been so long since our last blog. Tom and I both have both been sick and our lives have been even more boring than normal. We are now completely caught up to the Lost episodes that are currently airing (don't do the math, that adds up to a lot of hours in front of the television over a very short period of time). We have also been cleaning out our apartment and organizing and reorganizing everything in preparation for the baby. I spent one morning this week making a spreadsheet of everything I would like to get in the next couple of months, so I'm feeling a little more prepared for everything.

We are still having naming issues. We've narrowed it down to a few options, but even those change pretty often. I have a feeling we'll still be throwing around ideas after she's born.

Until the last week or so I had been feeling fantastic. I had been pretty tired most days, and that has gotten worst. I also noticed earlier this week that my hands and feet were a little swollen and that has gotten progressively worst over the last few days. Here's an updated slide show with my most recent picture. It may not look like a big difference from a couple weeks ago, but it has definitely impacted my ability to get up off the couch.

10 Week Countdown

Tom and I have been taking it very easy this weekend. Since we've both been feeling a little under the weather and because this is one of the last three day weekends we have before the baby is born, we wanted some time to relax and spend some time together. We went to dinner, went for a few walks, and watched the entire first season and most of the second season of Lost. We were going to save the Lost-a-thon for late nights with the baby, but we got a little impatient. Not exactly a productive weekend, but it was very relaxing.

I had a really great experience this last week. I had been a little concerned because I hadn't felt the baby move much for a couple of days, so I emailed one of the midwives that I have been seeing and she made me an appointment to have the baby's heart rate monitored. I was pretty nervous (let's face it, I'm always pretty nervous), but the two women who work in the fetal diagnostics office were so nice and they didn't even make fun of me for being nervous. They hooked me up to a monitor for 20 minutes and got to hear the baby's heart rate go up and down as she was moving. It was amazing. Then they did an ultrasound to make sure everything looked ok, and everything was great. I'm so glad that I was able to have this experience and the baby has been moving like crazy ever since.

We only have about 10 more weeks. Actually, I'm hoping that she'll hold on for a few extra days (though I'm sure I won't feel that way in a few weeks) because the new hospital is supposed to open on May 4th (that's 6 days after my due date) and the new hospital is SO nice. We are slowly getting a little more ready (this week we got the crib mattress). Here's a slide show with an updated picture from this week, but I think I look smaller than last week.

Los Angeles in February

Jealous?