Saturday, October 26, 2013

Hydronephrosis

There's a new vocabulary word for you.  I had to look it up myself today.  Here's why...

I started having intense back pain on my lower, right side Monday evening.  At first I thought it was from sitting in an uncomfortable booth at dinner and then sitting on the bleachers at Jake's softball game right after.  However, it never went away after sleeping that night and I had the same intense pain all day Tuesday at work.  Tuesday evening I called my Ob's triage nurse, thinking that I might have a kidney infection or kidney stone.  She called in a prescription for kidney infection, and told me to go to the doctor's office first thing Wednesday morning.  They worked me in to the schedule and I saw a nurse, nurse practitioner, and a doctor.  They sent off a urine sample for culture to check for kidney infection or UTI.  Both ended up coming out negative so I stopped taking the prescription they gave me.  They did an ultrasound to check my uterus, cervix, and see how baby was doing.  Everything there looked really good, so it gave me piece of mind that whatever this was, it wasn't hurting the baby and she seems to be just as healthy as ever with a good, strong heartbeat and normal movement.

I had to fast for the next 6 hours and later Wednesday afternoon I went for a renal ultrasound, where they checked my heart, kidneys and bladder.  The images were sent to my Ob for review, and they called this morning to let me know that there is no sign of kidney stone.  There was some fluid in my right kidney, but that is often found in pregnant women and would not be causing the pain.  Diagnosis ended up being a pinched Lumbar nerve in my back, just caused by pregnancy since organs move around and can push on things. 

Well, for some reason my Ob decided to take another look at the renal ultrasound images this afternoon and realized that my right kidney is dilated, = Hydronephrosis.  There are a few things that can cause it, but most likely baby girl is positioned in a way that my uterus is causing a pinch or blockage from my right kidney to my bladder.  More doctors visits are in my future this coming week to check and confirm what's going on.  Prayers are definitely appreciated, and I will update later on this week.


  

Tuesday, October 22, 2013

25th Birthday Weekend Recap :)

I had a great 25th Birthday weekend!  Saturday morning my parents came up to visit, and we went out to Windy Hill Orchard's Apple Festival.  It sprinkled a little on us when we first got there, but other than that the weather was nice.  We got to feed some animals, eat some cider donuts and drink some cider!  My dad and Jake did the Hard Cider tasting.  After that we quick snapped this picture by their pumpkins :)


Such a good picture of me and my hubby [..and Ryleigh making her presence known nowadays!]...

After the Orchard we went to Empire 2 for lunch and played in their cornhole tournament.  It was a lot of fun, but sadly we did not come even close to win.

Saturday night was some girl time and window shopping with friends, then made chocolate & pecan covered apples....There are photos of that somewhere but they will never see the light of day! Let's just say that the chocolate was not set before we decided to devour them, so it was a little messy to say the least!

Sunday [my actual birthday] started off with a lazy, snuggly morning watching overloads of New Girl on Netflix with Jake...and the treat of breakfast in bed, in the form of these bad boys:

...Let's just call it a recent craving...

Then, got ready and met a couple friends at the Upscale WeeSale.  It was an interesting experience!  I ended up finding some pretty cute little outfits, mostly jumpers/dresses, for little miss!  I was impressed with the nice brands that they had [Ralph Lauren, The Children's Place, Janie & Jack, Gymboree] and most clothing items were priced around $4-6.  The last day prices were cut in half, so we ended up paying $1.50-3 for each of these:

 
 
Black corduroy dress with matching bloomer, 6-9 months from Baby Gap  $3.00
Brown and Pink ruffled leggings, 6 months from Carter's  $2.25 for the set 

 
Jean & Plaid jumper, 6-9 months from The Children's Place $1.50
Autumn Plaid jumper, 6 months from Gymboree $1.50

 
Khaki embroidered jumper, 6 months from Gymboree  $1.50
Jean Capris, 6 months from Janie & Jack  $1.50

 
and my absolute favorite for many reasons [UGA colors, super cute, plaid, and still had tags on!]
Red & Black plaid jumper, 6 months from Ralph Lauren  $3.00
 
Yes, ladies and gents, those are serious deals!  I also got myself a pair of black maternity leggings that were Ingrid & Isabel for only $3.00! 
 
The grand total for everything came to $18.99 with sales tax :)  Even Jake was proud of those deals!
 
 
 
I ended my birthday with a fun dinner with some friends and Jake's side of the family at...wait for it...Charandas! You were surprised, weren't you?! haha we do love that place :)






Wednesday, October 16, 2013

Nursery Rug

Have I mentioned before just how much I love a good bargain?  Because I do....and I found one today!

Pretty much every day I peruse the deals on the Zulily site.  I've been doing it for a while--they have great deals not only for moms but also for women's clothing, holiday items, and housewares.  They also tend to have deals for guys--it seems like this is more "seasonal" around Father's Day or tailgating season. 

Well, they often have rugs on there and I've been trying to find a good deal and cute, kid-ish [like that new word?] 5'x7' rug for Ryleigh's nursery.  I just can't bring myself to pay $125+ for a large area rug that's probably just going to be drooled on, spit up on, etc.  BUT, the dilemma comes in because I also don't want my baby to be laying all over a cheap, itchy rug.

Today, I came across this one and decided to snatch it up!  It's exactly the size I need, the light pink matches the bedding fabric, and the brown will go with the color of the furniture.  It's not exactly what I had in mind, but I think it will look really cute.  It was $250, on sale through Zulily for $84.99+ $10 shipping, and I had a $20 credit on my account so I ended up only paying about $75!  It's from Mohawk Home, which is a great carpet and rug brand and they typically have very soft pile.  We actually have a giant [can't remember if it's 8'x10' or 9'x12'] Mohawk Home rug in our master bedroom that I found for a great deal at TJMaxx last year.  I'm hoping that this rug for Ryleigh is just as nice!

Here is the bedding fabric...
...and here's the area rug!
I also like how it looks as if the colors are heathered, which might also tie in the white from the bedding.  If it is, that's an added bonus.  If not, still cute! 




Friday, October 11, 2013

Nursery Planning...

Little Bedroom #3, the smallest of the 4 bedrooms that we always knew would eventually be the nursery.  It started out pretty bare, with the old builder light fixture and a sea of tan.  Then, we moved in the set of furniture that I got when I was little...A twin sized  bed, tall dresser, and vanity [excuse the heap of laundry and untucked sheets]. 
 
 
That brings me to Part A of the plan...Since kid #1 is a girl, once Ryleigh moves out of the nursery she will move into a bigger bedroom with this furniture.  Of course, with a different bedding set.

 
 


Now, Part B...my amazing dad came up to visit and helped install a new ceiling fan and flooring, the same color that we put into our master bedroom.

  

 
 
Part C, furniture shopping! A very fun part.  Also a highly researched part.  We knew that we wanted a convertible crib and wanted a dark finish.  We decided on convertible because it just makes sense that if you are spending the money on a suite of furniture, then you want to be able to get many years of use out of it!  We also decided that this furniture will not only be for Ryleigh, but in the far away future we will hopefully be blessed with kid #2.  Since Ryleigh will be using my girly childhood furniture, then kid #2 will be the one to use this nursery furniture into his or her teenage years.  That also made us decide on the darker finish, because we felt it matched the room and would be suitable for either girl or boy.
 
Here is the set that we chose! We're getting the crib, dresser, and adult conversion rails to eventually make it a full-size bed.
 
 
This one passed my "scratch test" which consisted of me trying to scratch and dent the surface of every crib that I liked with my finger nail so that I knew how well it might hold up to a toddler.  I'm sure the sales associates loved me. 
 
And this gives an idea of possible room layouts.  It's a small room, not even a full 10'x10', so we have to get creative.  I think I like the option on the left the best, so that the window won't have the sun and moonlight shining straight in on the crib.  (This is just a basic layout tool, so the finishes are not exact):



Lastly, Part D....Design & decorating!   We started looking at crib bedding sets and couldn't find anything that we loved and could agree on.  I decided to just make my own crib skirt, blanket, and some other accessories.  That was when I stumbled upon this fabric:

Giraffe Love in White, Michael Miller Fabrics
I'm obsessed with the adorable little girly giraffes!  It also met Jake's requirements of (1) Not too much pink, and (2) No flowers.   I also love that it's a clean, white background with so many bright, fun colors on it so that we can mix & match crib sheets and other items in the room.   It's definitely the centerpiece for the room inspiration, and my mind is already crazy with ideas!


I'll update once we start getting some of this going! We have a little bit of organizing and spring cleaning fall cleaning junk-purging either to donate or trash.  





Thursday, October 10, 2013

20 Week Appointment Update

Had a great appointment this morning checking up on little miss!  Strong heartbeat and everything else looking good.  They gave me my flu shot, which is to protect me and also so that the antibodies pass through the placenta to the baby.  That way, she's got some defense since she's going to be born in the heart of flu season.


How far along? 20 weeks, 2 days!

Total weight gain/loss: +9.5lbs

Maternity clothes? YES.  I only wear maternity pants.  I just bought my first pair of maternity pajama pants but haven't worn them yet.  I have been getting by with wearing most of my pre-pregnancy shirts and cardigans, but with the cooler weather this week I've mixed in some maternity light-weight sweaters. 

Sleep: Still seems to be a little touch & go...every now and then I will wake up in the middle of the night and have trouble falling back to sleep.  Still tired at times during the day.  My Boppy sleeping pillow helps a lot to keep me from sleeping on my back.

Best baby moment this week:  Hearing the heartbeat today! and hitting the 1/2 way milestone :)

Have you told family and friends: Yes!

Miss Anything? It's not technically missing anything, but....I'm not really worried about the glucose test (which I found out my doctor does around 28wks) but I've been trying to be good and watch my sugar intake.  Or at least, not over-do it.  If I eat candy or plan on dessert, then I stick to just drinking water throughout the day instead of mixing in soda, coffee, or hot chocolate.  Things like that.  They may not have a huge impact, but they make me feel like I'm doing something good. 

Movement: Yes! I was right when I thought I was feeling little kicks around 15 1/2 weeks, and they have gotten progressively stronger.  Jake felt a couple for the first time a few nights ago! 

Food cravings: Still pasta and anything peanut butter.  Lots of milk and Chocolate milk!  Also soup (which may just be this colder weather).  And waffles!

Anything making you queasy or sickStill staying away from red meat (except pork) and Chinese food.

Have you started to show yetYes, a decent little bump :)

Gender: GIRL!  Jake was right.  Her name will be Ryleigh Marie. 

Labor Signs: No, and better not for a while!

Belly Button in or out?  In

Wedding rings on or off? On

Happy or Moody most of the time:  Happy/tired.  I do get emotional over sad or sweet things more than usual.

Looking forward to: getting around to the nursery!  We've selected furniture and have a good plan for most of what it will look like (more to come on that soon)!   I don't know if it's the early signs of nesting or just the designer in me.
 


Tuesday, October 8, 2013

20 Weeks - Halfway!!


I can't believe that we are at the halfway point already!  The information above is from my Babycenter app, but should be mostly true for our little miss.  She was measuring about 4 days ahead at my last visit, and her feet are about 1" long.  Jake remembered the doctor saying she weighed about 10oz, so she may be a little bigger than 10 1/2 by now.  I go to the doctor on Thursday this week for my 20 week appointment, so I'll give more updates later this week!


So, how do you celebrate being halfway through pregnancy?  Probably a yummy dinner tonight and some cute deals steals for Ryleigh!  I got an email promotion about Gymboree's $3.99 clearance, and these were too cute to pass up!
Typically Gymboree pricing is a little outrageous when you consider that the clothes will only be worn a few times in the 3-ish months that they will fit, but who knew they have such great sales?!   Everything above was $3.99 with the exception of the corduroy heart headband, which was $5.49 but oh so perfectly matches the set of pastel long-sleeved onesies from Carter's that I bought her--mentioned here. 

Also, for you other Mommas-to-be who are due with little girls in March/April--Gymboree's super cute Plumeria collection is a part of the sale, so you can get adorable dresses and outfits like this and this and this that are only left in newborn and 0-3 month sizes!  I shed a little tear when I had to control myself from snatching up any of them because it probably won't be warm enough when Ryleigh would fit into them :(


In other exciting news, Jake and I decided on nursery furniture this weekend!  More on that later once I measure the room to decide on the final layout of everything.





Wednesday, October 2, 2013

Loving Itty Bitty Baby Girl Clothes!


So, three of these were purchased before we knew if we were having a boy or a girl (the fox sleep&play, Mom onesie, and Daddy Rocks onesie).  The rest were from the order I made last Thursday once we found out we're having our little girl :)  I'm loving all her clothes! Anything in miniature size is cute anyway.

Those baby jeggings and pink & white polka dot jeans are too cute for words.  It's so hard not to buy up everything that I come across--from headbows and glittery shoes, to baby uggs and cardigans!  I figure I need to take one step at a time to have Jake agree to all of the girly stuff...I'm starting off introducing some pink, then I'll try some shoes, then last I'll bring in the bows and show him how well everything matches! He will act like he is against anything "too girly" but I wish that I had a photo of the grin on his face when he held up those little pink jeans!  Is it possible for him to already be wrapped around her finger?

PS--she does also have some Georgia onesies and a onesie from Lake Lure that we bought a few weeks ago, but I don't have pictures of all of those yet!