Ames-1 Month

Photo credit:
Angi Carman Photography of Portland, OR
and The Tiny Footprints Project

My sweet tiny baby is transforming before our very eyes. He was one month old on Tuesday and it took me exactly that long to process what the heck was going on.

He is one amazing blessing. I have always heard that children change your life, but I never fully understood it until I became "mommy" to this tiny human. Experiencing the excitement related to his victories and milestones was unlike anything I've ever felt- and he doesn't even know how incredible they are yet. The day he went into a big boy crib was a day unlike any other, when he started to seriously want to breast feed- phenomenal, when he poops on a regular basis- ecstatic! And now, my little love, you are starting to take full feeds all by yourself. They talk about this hypothetical light bulb in relation to preemies and feedings. "You'll know when they have developed the suck, swallow, breath pattern better when their light bulb turns on." So naturally, since I'm an incredibly visual person, every time he drew milk, I looked for this hypothetical light bulb. I wanted so badly to see a literal switch turn on- no such luck. This guy drives the boat and he's not going to budge until he's good and ready. That's why, on his one month birthday, he took the most he had ever taken from breast feeding, tore out his feeding tube, and continued to increase his feed amount every day. This light bulb is turning on! Once he can eat on his own, our little guy is going home!

As of today, he's 32 days old and weighs 4lbs 11.8oz. He is attempting to breast feed or bottle feed around 60-70%(4-5 times a day) of his feedings and usually takes between 60-100% of the feeding. Once he can take three consecutive full feedings in a row, then his feeding tube comes out! Once he can eat 100% of his meals on his own- HE GOES HOME! The Nurse Practitioner is very optimistic that it'll be right around Christmas. One of my favorite things that he has recently started doing is massive grunting and squeaking. He is very active, even in his sleep. His arms goes all over the place, keeping him swaddled is nearly impossible. He kicks his feet around and becomes nearly uncovered by the end of each of his naps. 

We are getting so much closer and I can finally see the light at the end of the tunnel. Every day is a feeding accomplishment and I must say, it feels pretty darn good. 

This whole process has taught me a lot of things- the first being, patience. As I've stated in previous pregnant blog posts, I can be impatient. I like to be very efficient, I like black and white, yes or no, this way or that way answers. That's why it's so difficult for me to leave the fate of when my son is discharged in the hands of his biology and development schedule. What do you mean every preemie is different from the other? What do you mean you don't know exactly when he's going to start eating on his own? I would drive myself crazy with worrying about what I can be doing to help him eat on his own. What can I do to help him get stronger? Love him, hold him, support him, and the rest is up to him. Oy.

It's also taught me that it is just fine to express your emotions in hard times. Dang it, it sucks to stare at the same 4 walls for 12-18 hours a day. It's hard to not blame yourself for him having to go through a premature birth. It's hard not to be mad at a doctor for not catching something that they could have never seen coming. And it's hard to sit and wait, for weeks on end for the next milestone so that you can celebrate the small victories. I would make myself sick with guilt about the anger that I would feel from time to time. Until one day, I just verbalized it to Lance and that was all I needed. 

I've been incredibly humbled. You can't take a second of your life for granted, really truly. One minute you're laughing with your husband about the crazy situation you're in while quoting Jim Carey, about to cram into a hospital bed to sleep for the night....and the next you're world is upside down, you're bleeding uncontrollably and roughly one hour away from meeting your 10 week early son. At that moment you file in your brain everything and everyone that is and ever was important to you and you let them know every single second what they mean to you. Those people stand by your side during the craziest hours, even after making 3 trips up in the past 48 hours. They bring you meals, they let you sleep in their RV in the parking lot of the hospital because you're that crazy mom that doesn't want to be farther than a stones throw from their baby. They let you take showers every morning at their house because the RV can be a little cramped, they drive hours on end to come up and visit and bring you every thing you could ever imagine needing for your "breast health." They let you borrow their infant care seat carrier, they reassure you that those crazy emotions you're feeling are normal and they freakin suck. They cheer you on as you struggle with meeting the breast milk "quota" and they are okay with the fact that they have now seen your boobs more time than they can count. 

Probably one of the best things that this experience has taught me is that my husband is the best teammate I could have ever asked for. If there was ever someone who could validate my every emotion, hug me at just the right moment, and be the support system to keep me sane, it's this guy. Functioning on next to no sleep and he is putting together my breast pump parts post surgery and cheering me on for "one whole milliliter!!" He only partially winces when I ask him for a glass of water just after he sits down to relax. Holding me and being the strongest person I know during every melt down I've had. And being the best version of himself while he holds our tiny blessing. Swoon. Heart melting. We had a very strong marriage before this situation and this has only made it stronger. I am one incredibly blessed woman. I am forever grateful for the scariest time of my life and cannot wait to see where we go from here.

Photo Credit: My dear friend Rachel and her amazing husband Adrian

Helicopter Parents

Hello, we are the Armstrongs, and we are Helicopter Parents....
I prefer the term "unconditionally loving parents" but some would classify the constant questions, always looking for updates, sleeping in the rocking chair at his bedside, baby wipe baths because there is no way I'm leaving him long enough to shower every day, only leaving for potty breaks and 5 minute snacks, as a little bit of "hovering". No one can blame us, our child is in the NICU for goodness sake. He's such a little trooper. Every day I am amazed at how strong he is.

Being a NICU parent is hard. Duh. You picture yourself bringing home your baby after delivering and changing their diaper whenever, feeding them whenever they are hungry, learning their cues and their schedule, snuggling and cuddling them, playing with them, at your leisure. In the NICU I feel like I have to always double check with the nurses before I do something, if he's not sleeping I do everything in my power to get him back to sleep so that his little brain can grow, I've washed my hands so many times that they are dry and cracked, I'm paranoid about germs, I'm paranoid about everything that we talk to the Nurse Practitioner who's following him every day and would prefer that he just sit in his room and reassure me that everything is okay every 5 minutes (helicopter parents...)

Our little guy is a champ though. Mr. Ames Wilde is almost back up to his birth weight, he is 3 pounds 2 oz and has so much fuzzy blonde hair.

They have upped his feedings consistently over the past couple days, he's up to 25mL per feeding and based on a complicated calculation that I don't understand, his goal is to get to around 30mL per feeding. Almost there :) They are going to start fortifying my breast milk for his feedings starting tomorrow and that should help him bump up on the weight as well. They did a head ultrasound and there are no signs of brain bleeding which is fantastic.
He loves to be cuddled. He is most content when he is bundled up in a swaddle or when he is on Mommy or Daddy's chest. He sleeps so soundly during Kangaroo Care and it is our absolute favorite time of day.

He has had a couple spit up spells lately, the doctors and nurses aren't concerned as long as it isn't a large amount. So far, so good. I have to remember that he is a baby and that babies do spit up...(helicopter parents...lol)
You're feisty and so sweet all in one. If you're content you do not like to be bothered, diaper changes and temp checks are not your favorite. He loves listening to mommy and daddy's voices and boy he has been bright eyed these last few days. Probably one of the cutest things is when his eyes are open wide and he starts to smile and then goes cross eyed. I can't help but giggle every time because it is the cutest thing I've ever seen. In those moments it removes all of the stress of him being here and all I can think about is how much love I have for him. He loves to hold our fingers, especially when he gets flustered he reaches out and holds our finger and brings it in close to his face or chest and relaxes almost instantly. Talk about the worlds best feeling, the fact that we can soothe him is unlike anything I've ever felt before.

The days are starting to go by a little faster. We have a pretty solid schedule down:
wake up around 7:30 and get into his room before his 9am care. Assist with his 9am cares, diaper change, temp check, oral cares, just general comforting and getting him ready for his feeding. We read to him, sing to him, play music for him for a little bit and take care of any of the million things we have on our plate before his Noon cares. Around noon we do Kangaroo Care during his feeding and we usually stay there fore about 3 hours until his next feeding. Then we go have lunch and spend a little mommy and daddy time, generally talking about Ames, but still it's time outside of his room. We come back before his 3PM care and the other person does Kangaroo Care for 3 hours with him. We leave for dinner, back by his 9PM care and depending on how tired we are, another person holds him for Kangaroo Care and we leave to go to bed around midnight. Repeat

I think the reality of everything that is going on right now; being pseudo gypsies in the RV afer moving out of our apartment in a day (THANK YOU, THANK YOU, THANK YOU to our amazing family for doing all of that), in the process of buying a house, being a parent to a gorgeous little boy in the NICU- holy crap. I mean, any of those things is a lot, heck, why not do all 3??

I've said it before, but I am SO thankful for our family and friends support system. We could not make it through this without every single one of you and we are forever thankful for all of you and everything you've done.

Ames Wilde Armstrong

Ames Wilde Armstrong

3lbs 4oz

16 inches

With a little noggin measuring 11.5'

Wow- What a past couple of days. I went from writing sarcastically about how awesome it was to eat cheese while being pregnant and how much my back hurt while sitting down to- here is our son! 10 weeks early and precious as can be. 

Thank you to every single person who has prayed for us, came to visit us, sent us kind wishes, and just thought about our family as we go through this. We have been blessed with some of the greatest family and friends and I cannot tell you how much we appreciate everything that everyone has done. I wish we could thank you all individually, just know that we love you all dearly and are so appreciative of everything.

So how did our little one get here so quickly? Well, I mean, come on- look at how awesome his family is. He heard we had an awesome dog and that daddy is really funny and decided he would wait no longer!

It all started on Saturday, the 8th.

I woke up that morning and had been spotting with some mild back and lower abdomen cramping. When I called the doctor on call she advised I come in for observation. Lance and I went over to Meridian Park Hospital and they hooked me up to a contraction monitor and a fetal heart rate monitor. After 5 hours of observation they did a diagnosis by elimination and chalked it up to a potential and minor placenta abruption. I was advised to call if there was any new fresh red blood or if I began leaking fluids. Fast forward to Sunday morning at 4am, I'm leaking fluid and have fresh new blood- back to Meridian Park we go, this time it's my OBGYN who is on call and she runs tests to determine if the fluid I was leaking was amniotic fluid and contractions are now 2-4 minutes apart and slightly painful- first test, positive and I was 75% effaced. 

At this point we were told so many things but I only heard one: 

"You'll be in the hospital now until you deliver, Ames."

 I'm sorry- what? Is this real life? I have 10 weeks to go, his crib doesn't have sheets yet, I haven't gotten his car seat fitted into our car, my FMLA paperwork isn't completed...

They start hooking me up to an IV for magnesium to slow the contractions and provide neuro support, they hook me up to fluids, and they give me a steroid shot in my butt to promote lung development for Ames. The goal from what I understood was "keep you pregnant as long as we can so that he can get stronger"

Everyone leaves the room to get things ready for us to transport to St.Vincent's and I ball. I hold onto Lance like my life depends on it and I ball. 

Family and friends meet us at St.Vincents and they run another set of tests to determine if my water has in fact broken (still spotting a lot at this point and contractions are getting stronger even while on magnesium). 

The second test comes back negative for amniotic fluid and we are told that my water has in fact not broken but I am experiencing pre-term labor. Their game plan was to keep me on the magnesium in hopes that they would be able to stop the laboring. I would stay until at least Tuesday so that I could get my second steroid shot in case Ames came early and they wanted to see what would happen if I came off of the magnesium. So we are waiting. Family comes in, friends come in, and we wait. The whole time, I'm still spotting and I hear "it's okay darling, it's normal, this happens to some women. Don't worry about it- everything looks great." 

Mommy instincts- stop telling me it's normal, I'm still concerned. 

Fast forward to 7PM, family has gone home because they are reassured that everything is "normal" and boom, I have two quarter sizes of fresh blood come out. "That's normal" my nurse says and documents it for the next nurse to monitor. 9PM- I'm bleeding uncontrollably and this is where things happened so quickly that I felt like I was standing outside of my body watching everyone run around in slow motion. The on call OBGYN team member that came in to check me out told me that my placenta had likely ruptured, and she would be paging the on call doc for him to determine what we should proceed with doing. "Just in case, here are the risks of a C-Section, you'll need to sign a consent form."

I'm sorry, what? Is this the real thing? Is this normal? What's going on?

I look at Lance and he instantly grabs me and holds me. Comforting me with every ounce of his equally as scared being. That's when the nurses swarm in. I have one cutting my belly band off of me, another wiping my tummy down with cleansing clothes, one is asking me to sign the C-Section consent form, another is pulling off my pants and getting me into a gown, another is putting together everything on my IV to transport with me and with that, I'm rushed to an OR, Lance running behind me trying to get into his Breaking Bad look alike monkey suit so he can be by my side while we have an emergency C-Section and meet our son for the first time. 

I'm sorry, what? That's all I can keep thinking. What just happened!? Where did everyone come from and how did I get here?! This wasn't in the plan. This wasn't part of the birthing process I had dreamt about for the past 30 weeks. This was everything I didn't want. This was me delivering my precious unborn son, early, with a spinal block, and a C-Section. 

My anesthesiologist was amazing. She explained everything to me, reassured me, and talked me through my adrenaline shakes until Lance was allowed to come in and be with me. 

I hold his hand while they work on getting our son out as quickly as I can and we cry. Every parent's biggest concerns running through our heads and then we heard him. We heard his sweet cry and I am now crying tears of joy. Our little boy is strong enough to cry and I feel like one ounce of my "birth plan" isn't totally stripped from me. They show him to me and quickly carry him off to the NICU where Lance follows and I get patched up. 

They surgeons who did my surgery were fantastic, they did an excellent job, took their time, and walked me through what was going on. Lance came back with pictures of our sweet boy and stayed with me in recovery until I could start to feel my legs again. I had the craziest shakes I had ever experienced and all that I wanted was to see my son and a big glass of water. Both denied- for at least an hour. 

The NICU doctor came down to talk to Lance and I and told us how strong our little guy is. She explained the process and I probably caught every 3rd word she said. After I could start feeling my legs we went down  and I got to see my little guy for the first real time. All of the tubes and wires hooked up to him and he was still the most handsome and perfect baby I've ever laid eyes on. I put my hand in with him and he squeezed my finger with his tiny fingers and there I was again, crying.

They told me I had to rest and get my pain under control before I could hold him so I was wheeled up to our room and sat in bed staring at the wall, trying to process what had just happened. Family came in and out, they all got to see our sweet boy, and hugged me before leaving. 

"Sleep, rest up, you're going to need it" everyone kept telling me. I slept a total of 3 hours broken into 30 minute naps. What just happened!? Was all I could think about. I didn't feel like myself, I was so out of it and so baffled at what had just happened that I couldn't process. 

After my last nap I felt better and I was able to process things a little better. I was ready to go see my son and to hold him. That was a moment that I could never explain in words. When he cried and I was able to be his mommy and reassure him that everything was okay. That I was there and I wasn't going to let anything happen to him- and it worked. His breathing calmed, his heart-rate where it needed to be, and he slept. My sweet love just sleeping in my arms and then watching him in Lance's arms later that day. Absolutely amazing. 

And that is the story of the longest 48 hours of my life.

But, Ames, you are the light of our lives my sweet boy and I'm so thankful that you are safe. I have never been more terrified and overjoyed at one time. I'm so thankful to have you safe and in the hands of some of the best NICU professionals. I'm so sorry that I couldn't keep you in my tummy safe and sound just a little bit longer. I promise that Daddy and I are going to do everything in our power to keep you safe and we will be there for you every day, holding your hand, giving you kisses, and loving you with every ounce of our being.

You are so strong my sweet little Ames, Mommy and Daddy are so proud of you already.

Caution: Laughing Leads to Wetting One's Pants

Let me start out with a very funny story about Lance and I...It starts like this:

It's a nice evening so we go for a little stroll with Sage and take her to a hill at our apartment complex that has a great place for her to run and fetch her frisbee (her favorite play time). So we are tossing the frisbee down the hill and it ends up getting stuck on top of a rather tall bush. This dog is obsessed with this frisbee. Imagine a small child who just realized that their favorite doll is stranded on top of a bush...they run around looking for ways to get it down, look at you with worried eyes as if to say "well, you're the parent, you have to get it down!" So naturally we throw sticks, shake the bush, throw rocks, attempt to climb this pokey bush, and are ultimately coming up empty handed. So here's a great idea!! Let's put (at this time) 6 1/2 month pregnant Kayla on Lance's shoulders and Mom can retrieve the frisbee and we will have saved the day! Terrible idea...While Lance toddles to a standing position with his pregnant wife delicately placed on his shoulders I start laughing because we are going through these extreme lengths to retrieve a completely replaceable frisbee for our pitiful dog who is dancing around the two of us because she is NOT okay with him picking me up like that. I start laughing harder and realize, "Oh god, I'm going to pee my pants...BABE! I'M PEEING!" Yes...while atop his shoulders I am laughing so hard that it's making me wet myself. He quickly and gracefully gets me off of his shoulders before he turns into a human diaper, but it was too late. I had gotten him. Now I was standing there laughing SO HARD that I can't see through my tears. I, Kayla Armstrong, a grown 23 year old woman, had just wet myself on my husbands shoulders and now had completely peed my pants. It was a long, funny, cold walk home to say the least. We got the frisbee down though!

Okay, onto other news:

I'm just about 29 whole weeks along (this Sunday)! A little over 7 months pregnant and feeling pretty great! Minus the back pain and heart burn. Oh and inability to eat more than mouse size meals at one time. I just compared pictures from the past couple months. It's crazy when you see yourself day to day you don't notice how much bigger you get!

Here's my 20th, 24th, 26th, and 29th week pictures side by side

Hey, heyyy baby boy!!

Let's see what's new:

• Ames is kicking quite a bit stronger. My entire mid section moves and dances every time he moves. So amazing
• At my 7 month appointment I had gained 3 pounds putting me at a total of 20lbs for the pregnancy. I also found out I do not have gestational diabetes- whoop whoop!
• Salad sounds pretty nasty to me 99% of the time. I'm trying to get creative with my veggies. Mostly I'm eating them in stir fry, baked, or with hummus.
• Still always hungry. I can't eat a lot at one time but my eating endurance is impressive (pretty much all the time unless I'm sleeping)
• I over did it the other day at work and Lance had to help me off the couch to the bathroom because my back hurt so bad. I have since been instructed to "For the love of god, take it easy, woman!" and I am listening very well :)
• I'm sleeping like a rock most nights. It's rumored that this will change in the coming months, so I'm taking advantage of it while I can!
• I felt him hiccup for the first time this week! It was crazy because it was so low on my body (lower left near my hip)

In other big news...Lance has gotten a new job down in Corvallis. He is 8,000X happier than he was at the other job. I have my old, laughing, smiling husband back. Also! We are in the process of buying a house! We put an offer in on a new house in a subdivision in North Albany and they accepted it!! So let the loan process begin

Excessive Pregnancy Eating Anonymous (EPEA)

EPEA, it should be a thing. This week has been the week of insatiable hunger. I quite literally ALWAYS have something in my hand to consume.  I find myself waking up starving! Breakfast has never been so exciting to me. I also find myself shamelessly going back to the freezer just one more time and eating copious amounts of chocolate chips. This has been the best way to avoid hunger pangs or the pain of being too full. One time I made the mistake of eating a normal size meal and I had to lay on my side for hours waiting for that to digest. Sweet Mother of Pearl there is not enough room in this little body of mine to house a growing fetus, my lungs, and a normal size meal. Therefore, I will continue to eat consistently every 30-60 minutes out of the day :) I've been craving bread and cheese lately. Quesadillas, grilled cheese sandwiches, bean and cheese burritos- those are my comfort foods. If you know me,  you know that cheese typically = farts digestive pain, however, I believe this child is changing me for the better. Ice cream, milk and heavy creams are off limits, but I'm able to eat cheese and yogurt pain free! Ames- I love you for this (and many other things :) )

Also, emotions are fun. I have been inconsistently frustrated, happy, sad, excited, repeat, etc., etc. 

I was frustrated the other day because I was so hot, this frustration turned into fighting back tears before a perfectly wonderful weekend with my husband. 

The day progressed as this; wake up in the morning (at 5:30 because I have to pee and lord knows I can't fall back asleep after that) and we have a lovely walk to Starbucks and I get to enjoy a delicious Decaf Soy Pumpkin Spice Latte, we relax and watch some of our favorite TV show and he goes to Crossfit. Naturally, I stay in bed and cuddle with Sage until he gets back, but then my back starts to hurt, Ames isn't kicking as much as he normally does, and I get too hot. So, now Lance is back, I have a headache and a backache and I'm hot, cue frustrated internal conversation in my head. Calm, rational Kayla tells irrational pregnant Kayla that it's time to take a couple deep breaths and shake it off. "GIRL, YOU DON'T KNOW MY LIFE!" is what I'd like to say out loud until I realize, Hey, Crazy lady, you're fighting with yourself. Morning shower, make up, clothing tussle ensues, I finally get myself dressed and ready for the day and by this time the outside temperature has increased since I took Sage potty at 7am and BLOODY HELL IT'S FREAKIN HOT. That then makes my halfway decent outfit increasingly uncomfortable, cue the potential tears. Finally, Lance reminded me that the cute hat I had on was probably making me warm so if I took that off, I might cool down. Praise the good lord that I have him to be my realist, otherwise I might have died of a heat stroke and we never would of enjoyed our day at the Pumpkin Patch with the Holcombs.

6 1/2 months!

The weeks are starting to blend together now, I feel like I"m in a little bit of a stand still and my tummy has grown a whole lot lately.
I have developed this awesome pressure discomfort under the right side of my ribs. According to The Google Interweb- That pressure is from my organs being "rearranged" in my body. As if pregnancy wasn't weird enough as it is, now half of my intestines are up in my rib cage. I can really only feel this when I sit down. Speaking of sitting down, ouch. The middle of my back KILLS if I sit for too long. Luckily my job has me on my feet a good portion of the day but, that too hurts my back. No mercy.
Still no stretch marks on the belly, thank goodness, but my breasts are now road maps. Oww owwww, I know.
Little man has been super active lately. I can feel him up quite a bit higher now and you can see my whole belly move when he does. A couple times a day he will push some larger body part of his up against the outside of my stomach and then kick in the lower quadrant of my stomach. I love watching him, I could sit and watch all day.

Cravings thus far: Plain yogurt with frozen semi-sweet chocolate chips. Oh my heavens. It is delicious. All I need is 1 Tbsp of yogurt and a handful of chocolate chips. Repeat various times throughout the day :) Also, sparkling water, plain old sparkling water and soy, decaf, half the sweetener, Pumpkin Spice Latte (yes, I'm that girl- sorry nice baristas) - Soooo delicious!

Now, it seems like so many of my dear friends are pregnant with me at the same time and I was lucky enough to spend a Saturday with one of my oldest friends, Shanda, while we celebrated her newest baby, Wyatt. This little guy is her second and she's exactly 10 weeks ahead of me.

Heartburn, I loathe you.

Well today I am 24 weeks! 6 month point. Only 16 more weeks to go before we get to meet our sweetheart. Most days I feel fantastic! It's weird that getting off the couch or getting up from stretching on the floor is growing increasingly difficult. Today, I've felt like total garbage. Lance hasn't felt 100% either- so we are wondering if maybe it's food poisoning. Either way, it's been an extra lazy Sunday.

Symptoms this week:

• Walking up stairs makes me slightly winded. Well, winded enough that I need to walk around slowly before talking to anyone otherwise I sound noticeably out of breath ha...
• Sleepy throughout the day. I wake up feeling pretty good, but I could easily nap throughout the day if I was allowed. 
• HEARTBURN! It is increasingly worse if I eat something super sweet, otherwise it just hurts after dinner. Tums do the trick for the most part, but I really dislike popping them like a drug addict. 
• DROOL! What the heck- I never knew that my saliva production would increase so much. I wake up in a river of it. Also, I sleep so hard at night that I'm sawing logs, so when I wake up it feels like I've been yelling at a Spice Girls concert all night. 
• If it's hot outside I swell up like a balloon, feet, hands, face. I'm so thankful that we are going into the colder months. I made Lance agree that the next one would be conceived in August so that we avoid all hot months. Props to all the mamas who deliver from June-September. Mad Props. 

Catching Up

I missed blogging for week 22 and 23 and now I'm creeping up on week 24! Yikes.
Well let's recap on week 22 and 23

Week 22

• Flew to Denver for our dear friend's wedding. It was gorgeous! I had the honor of being in the wedding party and it was so much fun getting together with all of the girls and preparing for the big day all weekend. We have a pretty great group of friends and all of the bride and grooms new and old friends seemed to mesh so perfectly. We stayed at a house in Boulder and it was gorgeous. It was a 10 minute walk from their downtown area, so Lance and I walked to get breakfast on the morning of our 2 year anniversary. Honestly, I couldn't have thought of a better way to spend it than with some great friends, great food, and awesome dance moves. 
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
• As far as pregnancy symptoms go- week 22 was the week of extreme energy. I managed to stay up every night past 9PM (little victories guys, little victories) AND I even made it past midnight on the night of their rehearsal dinner. 
• My boobs continue to grow like tiny mountains, sorry, TMI. That's also where I've gotten my first stretch marks. Yikes, they're very prominent. 
• Ames is active as ever. Kicking around all the time, mostly active in the morning. 

Week 23

• Lance and I get up anywhere from 5AM-6AM on a daily basis. Even when we have a day off we aren't sleeping in much later than 6:30 or 7. This inevitably means that by 8:30 we've fallen asleep on the couch-whoops. Okay, I say "we" but in reality, he's fallen asleep with me maybe once...he's usually the one waking me up to go to bed. 
• Again, with the boob talk- I apologize. ITCHY, ITCHY, ITCHY!!! Cocoa butter to the rescue.
• I had another ultrasound so that they could get better pictures of his heart and all looked well! He is weighing in at about 1.6 lbs and was a total stinker. He was so cozy and balled up in there that he decided whatever way she needed him to face, he would face the opposite. 
• He's still most active in the morning and now when he moves you can actually see my belly move with him. He's getting stronger! 

Last weekend we went to the OSU VS San Diego St. game (Beavs won!!!)  and we, wait for it, WATCHED IT FROM A SUITE! Holy coolness my friends. Our brother in law rocks.

He's going to be the best dad ever :)

No Sleep? Why not!

Well we've hit 21 weeks and there haven't been too many big changes this week. I'm madly in love with feeling this little boy kick. It is the best feeling in the whole entire world. This week I went one day without feeling him and had a small panic attack. I was reassured by my wonderful mother that "he's sleeping a lot at this stage because it's hard work growing up! And he's still pretty small." I'm awfully lucky to have her to talk to about all of these things. The next day I felt him and all was right in the world. Last night we had dinner over at Lindsey's and he was up moving around enough for both her and Lance to feel. Also, we had waffles this morning for our Saturday breakfast and apparently, he's a big fan! He has been kicking and twirling in there all morning. Lance and I are in heaven.

Excuse the lack of hair/make up prep- it was early..

So the past couple nights I have woken up several times in the middle of the night for potty breaks and then by 3:30am I am WIDE awake. What's fun about that? Well I manage to doze off for about 15 minutes just before our alarm goes off at 5:00. I guess I'm practicing for when he actually gets here. Neat. 

This morning, on our day off, I woke up 5:30. I had a crazy pain in my belly button and then I felt him kick and I was up for the day :)

Pregnancy hormones have been fun. I can efficiently go from zero to sixty in record time. For example, an alarm of sorts went off for about 20 minutes this morning and it was the most god awful screeching one has heard in some time. Instead of ignoring it and proceeding to get up and get ready for work 45 minutes before my alarm, I sat and cried. I cried from lack of sleep, I cried for feeling overwhelmed, I cried because last night I was so hot that I felt short of breath/was sweating from every ounce of my being, I just cried. It's not typical of me to react in such a way- yes, I am a sap and I do cry....but not over car alarms. That's not the first overreaction perfectly rational incident that I have encountered over the past couple of weeks either. I'll spare any details since they all kind of end the same way- overstimulated/ frustrated/ exhausted = crying. And i'm not a pretty crier.

And finally, shortness of breath. I think that the heat has a lot to do with it. I had a walk at Portland International Raceway to end Alzheimer's yesterday. We took some of our residents and I drove the bus to pick up some other Activity Directors and their residents. It peaked at about 90 that afternoon and over the black top it was scorching. We probably only walked an eighth of the track because that was about all our residents could handle. So when I got home after a 7 hour, action packed, hot day, I was wiped out. Like fall asleep at 7:45 kind of wiped out. Also, the past few nights after I eat dinner (it has been well into the 90s lately) I feel like my lungs have shrunk 4 sizes and I'm struggling for every breath. My first reaction: take off all clothing because the heat is going to make me cry ;)...reaction number two: take large breaths, attempt yoga to get things to move around in there, sit straight up on the couch, lay down on the couch, stand up and walk around, lay on the floor and rub ice on my face, sit criss cross in front of a fan, lay on my side, lay on my other side, and finally....cry :) Do you see the trend here?

Lance and I have graciously been handed down many baby supplies/furniture/etc. and we are beyond thankful for everyone helping us out and being so unbelievably generous. We were given a changing table from his sister, Lindsey that we painted blue (it looks more blue in the picture than it actually really is) and we went to Home Depot and got a peg board for diaper storage/decoration. It feels pretty awesome to have a few things coming together in his room.

All in all things have been going very well, I just know that I'm going to want to remember these stories later on because eventually they will make me laugh. Eventually.

Kickin' up a Storm!

Well we are half way there!! 20 weeks down and 20 more to go before we get to meet our little sweetheart. Knowing that he is a boy is kind of crazy- from time to time I still catch myself calling him "they" before I remember- We actually know what we're having!! So exciting. This week has been pretty good, no crazy symptoms, just itchy skin, chocolate cravings, and pregnancy brain. Fun fact: If I wear a belt with my clothes you can some what tell that I have a belly! It's great! 

We have been talking about names and I think we are settled on Aemes (Ay-mms) Wilde. We aren't setting it in stone until we see him. Some of the other names we thought of were Wesley Lyon, Dash Steven, and if Lance had his way, he would be named Enzo (yes, like Enzo Ferrari). If little bug was a girl we had Sawyer, Leighton, and Harper picked out for names. We'll save those for if we have a girl on the next round :)

I celebrated my birthday last Saturday and it was wonderful. I spent the whole day relaxing with my husband and my dog, had food with family and friends, and ended the evening with swing dancing in the living room with my sweet hubby. The next day my mom, Nana, and I went shopping and I got new maternity clothes from Old Navy. Naturally, since Carters is right next door from Old Navy, we stopped there next. Needless to say, this boy is going to be STYLISH! 

Baby Armstrong was an active one this week, in fact, he gave me the best birthday present a mommy could ask for- he kicked hard enough for daddy to feel him! I can definitely tell that he is getting stronger because I feel him much more frequently now. 

So those cravings though....Random...

Spicy, hot sauce with my savory foods (lunches and dinners) and sweets whenever possible. And by whenever, I mean that if I could have them for breakfast, lunch, and dinner, I would consume my weight in chocolate cookies, brownies, candy, you name it. Thankfully, we have not stocked our house with any of those so I have to refrain. I can't say that I would go as far as to make the Kit Kat Lasagna below- but I'm also not above trying something similar.

Maybe it's all of the sugar cravings making me dopey, but for some reason when I'm formulating sentences sometimes, I sound like a 2 year old trying to express my needs and I just can't. I stare blankly just searching for the right words and then BOOM it comes back to me and I carry on until another simple word slips my mind. It's like I'm drunk on pregnancy. Shiza.

We're having a.....

BOY!!!!!

 This week has been amazing. We had our ultrasound appointment and it was quite a phenomenal experience. Since we found out we were pregnant I've been longing for the day for it to feel "more real" via belly bump, seeing the little one on the ultrasound, feeling him kick- anything. So to actually see our sweet little boys profile, his little feet and hands, it made it all feel so much more real. His profile is the cutest thing I've ever seen. If you look at him head on- he still looks a little alien like, BUT STILL ADORABLE! Before the ultrasound tech told us we were having a boy she asked if we had any bets going. Lance and I both kind of giggled and I told her that our whole family thinks it's going to be a girl because we both have all sisters. Her response- perfect "Well, they are all wrong!" And then BOOM! TEARS! Squeals, Lance's reaction, sheer amazement. So by golly, we are having a little baby boy and we could not be more excited.

 This weekend we had a family reunion with Lance's family in Sunriver and it was so fun! We floated the river, played family reunion olympics, laughed, ate a lot, and caught up with each others lives. We found out that we were having a boy the morning before we all met up in Sunriver- needless to say everyone was chomping at the bit to know what we were having. On the drive over, we bought pink balloons and blue balloons, I poked holes in all of the pink balloons and once we got there we had each person close their eyes and I gave them the balloon that corresponded with their gender guess. On the count of three they opened their eyes and started blowing up their balloons. The pink balloons popped and the blue balloons blew up. It was so much fun telling them, we all laughed and hugged and I think everyone was in shock. Here are some pictures from the weekend: