No two pregnancies are the same!

Well, this pregnancy has sure proven to be an emotional roller coaster for me. Most people know that just having kids for Dave and I hasn't been the easiest of paths, but this one is definitely coming with additional challenges. It started with the 20-week ultrasound showing a low placenta, then I was diagnosed with gestational diabetes around 28-weeks. This past week I had my follow-up ultrasound for the low placenta and it showed that it had in fact moved up (so, no planned c-section), but what it also showed was that the tube draining the right kidney of the baby is enlarged. So, I'm off to a specialist for another ultrasound this coming week. The doctor assured me that if it was something major, it would've been picked up at the 20-week ultrasound, but just knowing that there is possibly something slightly wrong with this little baby breaks my heart. The doctor told me that it could possibly be nothing at all and if they do find something, there is nothing they do at this point. What they'll do if necessary is ultrasound the kidney's after the baby is born. So, I'm hoping I'll find more out at my appt on Thursday. At this point, I'm convinced this is a little girl, taking everything out of me!! :-) On the diabetes front, I've kept my levels under control for all but 2 meals, so that's at least not a problem. I go to the doctor for my 32-week appt on Wednesday and then I start going every 2 weeks. Only 8 more weeks to go for this little one!! Can't wait to meet the little angel!

Here are some pictures of what we've been up to the last few weekends.

Dinner downtown Aurora with the Rochford side to celebrate Dave and my Dad's bday. We went to a fun Mexican place where they had musicians actually travel table by table to play music. Ethan was very interested in it all!

We traveled down to Champaign to watch my brother Adam graduate from U of I (He's off to UT-Austin this fall for grad school).

We stayed @ Dave's gradparent's house and took Ethan for a walk. He liked this field of tall grass.

Diploma in hand - Ethan was a good sport during the ceremony.

We went to MN last weekend for my cousin's wedding. Here is Ethan hanging out with Uncle Adam. His buddy for the weekend!

My 30-week picture

28 Weeks

We officially hit 28 weeks on Thursday (but we forgot to take a picture). I went to the doctor on Tuesday and I supposedly had only gained 1lb?! Although I think the real culprit was that my prior appt. was RIGHT after eating pizza for dinner, so I just weighed in higher in the previous appt. I'm up to 16 lbs total from my scale. :) Baby's heartbeat was loud and strong - I LOVE hearing that sound! On to the bad news though, I was diagnosed with gestational diabetes this time (after getting my arm poked 4 times in 3 hours last week), so I'm off to talk to a dietician and a nurse educator on how i can improve my diet and how i'll have to monitor my blood-sugar levels every day with a monitor. I'm a bit bummed and almost insulted at this diagnosis. I know it just happens during pregnancy to some women, but I'm the one that eats veggies every lunch and dinner and fruit all the time. I pay attention to food labels. People at work have joked that my system just isn't used to sugar, so when I took the test, it was a shock to my system. Whatever the reason, the news did make me a bit emotional for a few hours.

Mother's Day weekend was like every other weekend...busy! Friday night Dave put up Ethan's new shades and a little car shelf in his new room. The room is definitely coming together and we're still aiming for Memorial Day weekend for his first sleep in there. Saturday we did swim classes and took Ethan to Elmo Live. Sunday Dave unfortunately went into work for 5 hours, but Ethan and I hung out and made cookies (not for me to eat, of course) and played. When Dave got home we spent time outside to enjoy the weather and after dinner we made Ethan's big boy bed with his car sheets and put his room in order. The only thing missing is a dresser to make it fully functional for him.

I have to mention, I'm so proud of Ethan with his swim classes these days. He is great at paddling his arms and kicking his feet. His paddling motion is more like when you sing the song, "The Wheels on the Bus", but he gets the point, that's for sure. We also go to the shallow end of the pool towards of the end of his class and all the kids get little rings that we practice putting under water and having them grab them. He's gotten as far as putting his mouth under to reach for the ring, which I think is just great. I try to keep him interested by teasing him with the ring while I put it under water. This weekend, he actually said he was okay with going under water.

Here are some Elmo pictures to enoy...

There's just not enough time!!

I honestly feel like there is just not enough time in the day, week, month, etc. lately to get things done. Dave's been done studying for 2 weeks and we still don't have the time to get everything done around the house it seems. We've definitely put a dent in preparing Ethan's new 'big boy' room (big shout out to Dave who sacrificed a good part of his birthday weekend, this weekend, to do the majority of the painting in there). Next weekend I'm hoping to get his new shades up and the room partially put together and then possibly move him into the room around Memorial Day (we're out of town the 15th and 22nd). Our other big task lately is trying to get quotes on putting a patio in...we've gotten such a late start on it, it seems we have to wait a couple of weeks to talk to the people, so we're just working it as much as we can. Other than that, I just try to keep up with the house chores as much as possible, although I sometimes feel that 75% of the space is a toy room (I'm hoping that Ethan's new room will house some of the toy run-over).

On to what you really check the blog for..pictures of the little man!

Mr. Fix-it

A quick pose by the tree in front of the house

Out with friends to celebrate Dave's 33rd bday....Yummy sushi!

Posing while out mushroom hunting with Mommy, Daddy, Grandma and Grandpa Hickman and Dave's friend Tim

Walking with Grandpa in the forest preserve

Walking with Daddy

Grandma giving a piggy back ride (he walked quite a bit, but in the end, he wanted to be held, so this helped Mommy take a bit of a break)