Due date...comes and probably goes...

Well today is my official due date. July 19th...I don't think its going to be Ella's birthday. I keep telling her its her birthday and to get out, but she isn't listening. Maybe I should start telling her I DON'T want her to come, and she'll do the opposite :)

Just a little update on my progression... Last Tuesday after my Dr stripped my membranes I had a lot of cramping and a lot of contractions. I also went walking around walmart for 2 hours to help get things going (its too hot to walk outside). That night some of the contractions were pretty intense so I thought it was going to work. Then I lost my mucus plug the next day on Wednesday (sorry, its gross I know) so I really thought that it would happen by the end of the weekend.

Well, the contractions became more infrequent and less intense. Then Thursday evening I thought maybe I was leaking water because of some symptoms I was having. So I called the Dr and they told me to come in so they could test it. So Friday morning I went to see the on call Dr (since mine is still out of town). He ran the tests and said it was negative, that I wasn't leaking water. He also checked me and guess what?? I was still only dilated to a 1!! WHAT?? After all the progress I felt like I was making and nothing has changed since Tuesday? He told me not to be disappointed cause she would come whenever she was ready, and I could go from a 1 to a 10 in hours.

So I decided to remain as positive as I could. And that's where I am now! I am staying positive! We made it through the weekend without much to report. Still had a bunch of random contractions, some intense some not so much.

Today I am having a lot more contractions than usual, and most of them are on the intense side :) Hopefully that means that something is happening and tomorrow at my Dr appt he will tell me that I am dilated a little more. Right now I am sitting here watching my stomach roll around... she is just going wild in there :)

Oh and some more exciting news...today was my last day at work!! I went in for a few hours this morning to get some things done and now I am at home doing some work stuff from home. Its nice to be able to work from home, now that I am giant and its 100 million degrees outside. Gotta love Texas! Anyhow, that's about all I have to report for now! Check back soon, hopefully I will have good news tomorrow :)

Cutest nursery ever, for the cutest baby ever!

Well since Ella is still chillin' and not ready to come out yet I thought I'd post some pics of her nursery since its the cutest nursery EVER!!

When we found out she was a girl, I started prowling the Internet for cute, non-baby looking bedding. I am not a fru-fru pink girl...as most of you know I love purple. So naturally I decided to go with purple as the room color. I didn't want anything cartoony looking if that makes any sense, I wanted something more...well modern. You know what I found out?? Its NOT an easy thing to find! Its like the world expects you to do pink if you are having a girl! Didn't you hear me? I don't want pink! lol There was just not a lot of options when it came to finding modern looking purple bedding.

Then I found it... it was perfect! But it was also pretty expensive! So I started searching and found a lady that sells this designer on ebay for a discount, and the package included more than I had originally planned on buying for less than the basic package! SCORE!! So after going back and forth on whether or not to buy bedding online without laying my hands on it (to make sure the quality was good) I finally just clicked the "buy" button and hoped for the best!

A week later it came in the mail, and it was perfect!! Even cuter then it was online! YAY!! So now we needed to paint. Of course we just bought this brand new house, and the walls were already painted a neutral color...were we going to be brave enough to paint the walls purple?? My hubby was a little scared since we don't have a lot of painting experience that it was going to end in disaster.

So we went to home depot and chose our colors... purple and green. My in laws were at our house that day so we decided to get started with them there....





After we did the little accent walls in green we realized, hey we are pretty good painters! My inlaws left, except my sister in law and we decided that we should just go ahead and do the purple wall too.








I had been saying I wanted to hire a muralist to come over and paint the flowers from the bedding on the walls that we didnt paint. My mom said she had just the person to do it, and that would be her present to Ella. So we called up Beth, my moms friend that she used to work with...and man that was the best decision ever! Beth was amazing! She spent 2 days straight painting up a storm and the outcome is just simply amazing! Ella will have the cutest nursery in the world, and it will last for years to come, since its not a baby-ish theme.







Of course we have added several things since these pics were taken... my glider, area rug, and some stuff on the walls. But you get the idea, although pics do it NO justice! I got her furniture from JC Penny's and it was on sale. Score again! Its a conversion crib, so it turns into a toddler bed, and then a full size bed. So it should last a long time!

I am so in love with her room, and I go sit in there and just rock in the chair sometimes :) I cant wait for her to be here so she can see her awesome room!

Oh I forgot my photographer took some pics of her room when she did our maternity pics (I'll post those soon too). Here are the ones she did...

Will it work?!

Ok, so the dr appointment today went pretty good. I am dilated to a solid 1 and 80% effaced. She stripped my membranes and we are hoping that it pushes me into labor. So come on regular contractions!!!! If nothing happens then I have an appointment next Tues with another doctor from the practice and I am scheduled to be induced next Friday the 23rd at 6:00 am. I reaaally don't want to have to be induced so please pray that labor starts on its own before then!

So far nothing much going on, a little bit of cramping. That's about it :)

Check back soon for any updates!!

Tick Tock, Tick Tock....

Ok Ella, its time to come out!! I am exactly one week from my due date, and boy am I ready! Its not that I am miserable like a lot of women at this stage in pregnancy, its that I am just ready to meet her and have my body back! Well whatever my new body will be, not the old one :( I am ready to be able to get up out of chairs and the bed with minimal effort. I am ready to be able to see my feet, and for my feet to not be the size of Africa! I am ready to not have to make 100 trips to the bathroom everyday (and night), and more and anything else I AM READY TO MEET MY DAUGHTER!!!

Luckily I am still sleeping like a rock, and not having many problems. I have A LOT of braxton hicks contractions.... A LOT. And some are getting pretty intense... I am wondering of those are real ones?! Sometime the bh contractions are so frequent and consistent I can time them and they can be anywhere from 5-8 mins apart for several hours, but then they just go away.

Last Wednesday at my appointment my Dr said I was "very very effaced, and dilated about 1/2 a cm". Ok thats not a lot, but hey its definitely good progress! She said Ella had moved down a lot and she could touch her head when she was checking me. Too cool! I told her to tap her on the head and tell her to get out :) So she said that if at this week's appointment (which is tomorrow at 11am) if I am dilated to at least a 2 then she will scrape my membranes and try to push me into labor before she goes out of town. Because as luck would have it my Dr. is going to be out of town from July 15th-July 22nd! Of COURSE I just know Ella is going to come while she is gone and I am going to have to deal with some Dr. that I don't know and has no idea what I want and expect from labor and delivery.

So anyhow, we are hoping that by scraping my membranes it will be enough to start the contractions and get this show on the road!! For those of you who aren't sure what that means it was explained to me like this...Once you start dilating every time you touch the cervix it releases oxytocin which is what dilated you and makes you contract essentially putting you into labor. So by going in and scraping the outside of the cervix it will release a lot of oxytocin, and for some women it triggers labor. For some women it doesn't do anything and it still takes weeks to go into labor. Lets pray I am NOT one of those women!

My Dr. said that if I don't have Ella this week then I will see one of her partners in the practice next week and they can schedule me to be induced next Friday when my Dr comes back in town. I really don't want to be induced so please send your thought and prayers to me that it happens on its own!

This weekend my Grandparents made the 18 hour flight from Iran to witness the birth of their first Great Grandchild! I only get to see them every few years and they haven't been here since our wedding. So yesterday we went and hung out with them, my dad, aunt & uncle, and cousins which is always a good time! I recently bought a new awesome Nikon 5000 camera and brought it with me to take some pics of me and my belly with my Grandparents. Once I download the pics I'll post some :)

So now I am at work, hopefully today will be my last day here!! And hopefully my next post will be to tell you that scraping the membranes worked and I am having some real contractions!!

Ella,
Your Mommy and Daddy are so very very excited to meet you! We already love you more than you will ever know. You also have a TON of family members and friends that are dying to meet you... I am pretty sure that both of your Grandma's are sleeping with one hand on the phone waiting for me to call them and tell then you are on your way to see us! So come on out, there is a lot more room out here than in my tummy and its a lot more fun out here too!! Oh and one more thing... please be nice to me in delivery because I am a little nervous about that part! HA!

I love you so very much,
Your Mommy

Baby bump and what does she look like?

So I figured that I would post some pics of my growing bump so you can see how big I have gotten over time. When the first picture was taken I remember thinking "Wow, I am starting to get big!". HAHA,that is hilarious when I look back!What week do you think I popped?! Also we moved inthe middle of all this so there are some weeks that went undocumented.

15 weeks
16 weeks
17 weeks
18 weeks
19 weeks
20 weeks
21 weeks
26 weeks (new house)
28 weeks
30 weeks (in Ella's new room!)

I have gotten really bad about taking pics, mostly cause I am huge and dont feel so cute anymore! I'll try to get better eventhough I am 37 weeks and almost done!!

We decided to get a 3/4 D songogram done at 28 weeks. It was amazing! We went to a place called Stork Vision and they were so great! The room was set up likea living room, couches for all the family to sit and be comfortable and a flat screen TV so everyone could see our baby perfectly. My parents, Bretts parents, Ashlie and Lauren all came with us. I drank toooons of water the week before in hopes it would increase the fluid around Ella so we got a really good view of her. It worked! We got some of the most amazing pictures!



And here is a video of her moving around in there too!

Showers Galore!

Since Ella is going to be here in a matter of weeks I thought I'd post some about the showers that were thrown for us!

The first shower was a family and family friends shower thrown by my Mom, Mother-in-law Jo-Jo and Sister-in-law Ashlie. They did an amazing job! We had it at our new house since it was kind of a central location for everyone. We had lots of travelers coming from Brett's home town. My Aunt helped by making the punch and bringing her beautiful crystal, and Kirby helped by making the cutest cake for a baby shower EVER! HA!

We had a great turn out, almost 30 people! The boys went down to our community dock and fished the day away while we enjoyed food, games, presents, and good times! It was the first "girly" shower I have ever had since we only did couples showers when we got married. So I really enjoyed having all the important women in my life together at one time! Thanks guys for an amazing shower, it was beautiful and I will always cherish it! I love yall! Here are some pics from that shower.






The second shower was our friends/couples shower thrown by my besties Andrea and Lauren. They also did an amazing job! We decided that since I had a girly shower already we would have a fun one where the boys could come too. So we had it at Andrea's house since she has an awesome pool and turned it into an all day party where we swam and had a cookout. While the girls were inside playing games and opening presents the boys were out by the pool drinking beer and having fun. When the girls were done, we joined them outside for swimming and volleyball. Everyone got a kick out of me in my bikini. Fun times, fun times! I refused to wear a maternity suits cause they are just not too cute and I looked like I was wearing a tent! So I opted for a regular ole' 2 piece.

The night ended around 10 pm and I was exhausted! It was such a fun shower, and I think the most fun I have ever had at a baby shower! Thanks guys, I love you! Here are some pics of that shower.







The last shower was a small shower at my office. I work at a proprietary school so we didn't want to disrupt the students so we held it in between day and evening classes. Ashlie ( sis-in-law who works for me) put this shower together. We had some food and yummy cake and opened presents. Since we were at work we tried not to spend too much time on the shower since we were on the clock and all! HA! After opening presents all my co-workers gave me awesome advise and told funny stories about forgetting their kids in weird places or walking out of the house and leaving their infant in the car seat all strapped up and ready to go! Lol! Thanks guys... it made me feel a lot better knowing all of you made mistakes and had bumps along the way in raising your kiddos! Thank you Ashlie and my co-working family for an awesome shower! Here are some pics from this shower.








Well there you have it... 3 showers down and all we need now is a baby to use all the fun stuff on! I am so grateful to have so many people in my life that love me, and more importantly already love Ella so much! We are truly blessed!! Thanks to everyone that had a hand in making all our showers so awesome, you are much appreciated!

Next post, belly pictures from beginning to end! You get to see how much I have really grown over the last 9 months!

Girl or Boy?!

March 8th, 2010 was the day we were going to find out if our little peanut was a boy or a girl. Both Brett and I had said we didn't care what it was, just ask long as the baby was healthy. But I was so positive that it was a boy for almost 4 months. About 3 weeks before the sonogram Brett had a dream that it was a girl. He dreamed that we were at the beach with her and Aunt Ashlie was carrying a 1 year old baby girl to the ocean as we watched. Then a few days later I had a dream it was a girl. My dream was a little more strange. I dreamed I couldn't get her strapped into her car seat fast enough and whoever was driving the car started driving off and I had to run beside the car strapping her in. Weird, I know! But if you have ever been pregnant then you know the insanely odd dreams that accompany pregnancy!

Anyhow, so now we have both had dreams it was a girl. I don't know what to think anymore! Maybe I am wrong and my gut feeling of a boy wasn't right.

Well of course everyone in our family wanted to be present for the sonogram. So on March 8th, me, Brett, my Mom, my Dad, my Mother-in-Law,and my Sister-in-Law all met at the doctors office. I was calling it our big ole' family sonogram! Ashlie (sis in law) was going to video tape the whole thing so that family and friends that couldn't be there could see it.

We are all in the waiting room and they call my name. We get up and start walking and I told the sonographer, "I brought a crowd, hope you don't mind!". Side note: I have seen several women with 5+ people with them in the waiting room to have the gender sonogram done. So I know its something they are used to seeing and dealing with. Well apparently this sonographer was not to happy about it. She gave this look like "oh, great! What a pain in my butt!" Whatever lady get over it! This is the first grandkid on either side of our family!! lol

So we all pile into the tiny room and Ashlie pulls out the video camera and the lady says "Oh, you cannot video in here!!" Crap! That sucks! Well the sonographer continues to be rude by talking extremely quiet and only to me and Brett. Its like she was purposefully trying to leave everyone else out. I was starting to get really annoyed but I was so excited I didn't say anything. So she went through all the organs and bones and measured everything and pointed everything out to us (well to me and Brett anyway). She said everything looked perfect and the baby weighed about 12 ounces which is normal for 21 weeks. Now getting to the good part.

She leans into me and says "How do you want to do this? Do you want me to just tell you or announce it to the whole room?" Well what do you think lady?? I brought my whole family, but I only want you to tell me. Dear Lord, quit being so rude! But nice me just said "Announce it to the room." So back to the belly she went with the wand and rolled around on my belly and then said "Its a GIRL!!!"!! We of course all started squealing and hugging! We were so excited to finally know that we were having a baby girl!

So we pack up and start to head out to a celebration breakfast, but my dad wasn't following behind us. He was walking around the lobby of the hospital on his phone. What the heck is he doing?! Then he starts texting and walking the wrong way. So I walk back inside and I said "What are you doing? Lets go Dad." And he is all smiles and says OK. We all start walking to our cars and this crazy lady is walking towards the hospital dressed like a Fair Godmother, wings and all, carrying tons of balloons. My first thought was, oh someone just had a baby... how cute is that, she is going to go visit them!

My Dad leans into me and says "What the heck is that?!" (cause the lady looked really funny in her outfit) I laughed and shrugged my shoulders. She made eye contact with me and smiled and I thought she was just being nice since she noticed I was pregnant. Nope!! She stopped and said, "HI, LEILA! I hear we are celebrating your new baby girl!!" OH. MY. GOD. My dad hired a singing telegram in the form of a Fair Godmother!!! (with a northern accent to boot! lol) She then tells me that she is my Fairy Godmother and has been watching me for a long time and she wanted to congratulate me on my baby girl. Then she starts singing a song to me. (I don't have the lyrics with me but I'll try to remember to post them later, cause its funny!)Since we had the video camera with us already, we were able to captured the whole thing on video. Classic!! It was one of the best days ever, and a day that none of us will ever forget! Here are some pics of us with my Fair Godmother.

Thanks Dad for making that day so special! And to our baby girl, Mom and Dad are so thrilled that you are a girl and we cannot wait to meet you!

I had picked a name years and years ago (before Brett and I started dating) for a girl. Ella Lynn. I love the name Ella, Elle for short, and Lynn was my brothers middle name. Aubrey Lynn passed away when I was 10 so I thought it would be awesome to name my first child after him. So Ella Lynn it is! But you know whats really crazy? Brett's grandmother passed away when he was about 10 as well. He was very close to he, and her name was Louella. So what are the chances that I choose the name Ella?! Its like our child is named after the 2 people that we loved so much that we have lost. So here's to you, Bubby (my nickname for my bro) and Maw-Maw (what Brett called his grandma)!! Ella Lynn will live on through you. We love you both and miss you dearly!