One Year...So Many Changes

A year ago today, I received the most shocking yet biggest news of my life. I was on the road to becoming a Mom! Baxter had taken me to the hospital about 8:00 that night because my left side was killing me, and we weren't sure what was going on. We get there, they take an X-Ray and give me Motrin before taking a pee test...thinking the whole time it was kidney related. Well, they came into my room about 10:00 that night and told me that my kidney's looked fine...but I was pregnant. I literally jumped out of the bed and started crying. I was scared to death. I kept saying "how did this happen?! I'm on birth control" and "My Mom is going to kill me." Well, we called my Mom on the way home from the hospital and told her. I was still freaking out.

But today, a year later, I can't imagine my life without Aubrey! She is truly the best thing that has ever happened to me. I love her more that I could ever imagine I could love someone. My life changed for the better a year ago.

From this...

 

 

 

 

 

...To this at 6 weeks...

...To this at 20 weeks...

...To this on her birthday 11/03/11...

...To this 2 days ago on Valentine's Day...

Wow...a year goes by so fast when you sit down and think about it!

40 Weeks! And Belly Pictures!

We made it to 40 weeks, and I'm not doing an actual update! Instead, I have collages of all my belly pictures I've taken throughout the entire pregnancy that I'll post! And right now, we are sitting at 40+3 weeks and she isn't budging. I am 1 cm dilated and 50% effaced...so we have officially given Aubrey an eviction notice. She can pack her bags and move out before Thursday, or Thursday morning at 7:15, they will start the induction process. I'm nervous but very excited about meeting this little one! But I will see y'all on the other side! For now, enjoy the pictures and see how much I have changed since February! Crazy!

Cravings, Cravings, and More Cravings...Oh My!

I know, a middle of the week post. And I am so proud of myself for doing it! I'm just afraid by the weekend I will forget all about my cravings....again! I always seem to when I'm doing my update! Anyways, I have definitely had a lot of cravings lately. But there's been some main ones. And some aversions. It's been crazy!

• Chocolate Milk: Oh my gosh! I cannot get enough chocolate milk. Yesterday, I had five, yes FIVE, cups myself. I've always liked milk, but never like this! I am finding this insane! And I'm drinking regular milk to on top of that. Hopefully Aubrey will come out LOVING milk the way her Momma does!
• Crunch Bars: You know, the chocolate bars with the little crunchy things in them. Yes, I want them. All the time. For a while, I didn't want sweets. But now, I can't get enough of them. Almost every time I go in to the grocery store, I have to get one. So the other night, Baxter and I went to the Golden Pantry and they stopped selling Crunch bars because apparently "they're too cheap for the GP." I was so pissed off and could have cried.
• Chicken: YUM! I don't care where it's from, if it's dipped or cooked in anything, or whatever. I want chicken! I have always been a big fan of chicken. But this one...it's different! I could eat chicken for breakfast, lunch, dinner, and snacks! No, I don't eat it this often though!
• Coke Slushies: I am a Diet Coke drinker. Always have been. But Coke Slushies are ah-mazing! I am in the gas station at least once every day to get me a Coke slushie. And yes, I am drinking water too.I feel like I am always putting something to drink in my mouth!
• Pizza: Yum! I wanted pizza last night and had to wait until today. But it wasn't as good as I had planned. Boo. I hate despise when that happens. Especially when pregnant.

I think that is it for cravings. I know, I'll come up with something else one day before Aubrey makes her appearance. As for aversions, there really isn't that much. Mainly just Reese cups...which is weird to me. I love peanut butter and chocolate. Right now, it just doesn't seem appealing when they're together. Hmm.

It's A...

GIRL!!

We found out yesterday that baby is a girl! We will name her Aubrey Michele. We are beyond excited and cannot wait to welcome this little one in to the world! But I will post pictures later when I have the chance!



Belly Pictures

I seriously have no idea how I missed my 17 week post...I'll do 18 weeks this weekend sometime! But right now, I'm going to post all of the pictures that I have so far! Hope everyone has a very safe and Happy Memorial Day weekend!

February 16, 2011

It started out as a normal Wednesday. I got up, got dressed and headed over to Baxter's. We were going to go job hunting [and I think we actually did]. Later that afternoon, I started feeling really bad and my left side was hurting right below my rib cage. So, I laid down for a while, and the pain got worse. That night [around 8:00 or so], we ended up going to the ER to figure out what was going on.

We get to the ER, get checked in, go to triage, and they get me to the back fairly quickly. They give me medication for the pain and told me they were going to do an X-Ray to make sure it wasn't pneumonia or a pulled muscle or anything. They also wanted to make sure there was nothing wrong with my kidneys and that I didn't have a stone or infection or anything.

Around 10:00 that night, the doctor comes back in to the room. "Well, Ms. Strickland, we have some things we need to talk about. Your X-Ray came back clean. There's no pulled muscle, and your kidneys looked clean. But we got a positive pregnancy test [cue freak out!] from a urine culture. If we had known this, we would've been more careful with what we had given you and your X-Ray. We are going to move you to a different room so we can do an ultrasound, take some blood and an exam to figure out how far along you are. I'll leave y'all alone for a few minutes and a nurse will be in to move y'all."

She left the room, and I cried. I mean, I was freaking out. "How did this happen [don't answer that...it was going through my mind, when I know how this happened]? What are we gonna do? How are we gonna raise this child?" Etc. I said countless times that night, "oh my gosh. Oh my gosh." Just repeating it.

Well, they did blood work and an U/S. My beta from the blood work was 297 and they didn't see anything on the U/S. But I was only 3w4d at the time.

Finding out you're pregnant at a hospital is no fun. Especially when it was a complete surprise. Not planned. At all. But I am definitely going to start updating this blog at least on a weekly basis with the weekly survey and pictures. I'll actually do a picture every Saturday, since that's when my week starts.

And please, if you read this and we're friends on facebook, please don't say anything. Thank you!