Blah Blah Blog

So, I am thinking of deleting my blog.... I just feel like nobody reads it anyway. We'll see...

So I decided to cut my hair. I have been going through this cycle the past couple years where I try to grow my hair out really long but then get so sick of it that I chop it all off. But I really feel that my hair should be short always. I feel better. I look better. AND, the baby can't pull my hair as easily now. Before, I couldn't sleep without putting my hair in a ponytail because I felt like I was drowning in it at night. I cut it on Saturday and ended up chopping off 7 inches.

Before

After

It feels SOOOO much better now! I don't know why I ever try to grow it out!

Above is a picture of Max and his new little habit. In the past month or so he has really gone to town on sucking on his fists but more recently he has started sucking his thumb. I think it is super cute but I am also scared that he will be sucking his thumb all the way to his first day of high school. I know that it is a very hard habit to break but I have read a few articles that say letting them suck their thumb is fine. I guess we will just have to see how things go or if this habit even sticks. It is nice to have a binkie (thumb) that doesn't fall out of his mouth and hit the ground all the time.

Crazy Coupon Lady

Here is a display of my shopping trip from yesterday:

Retail value is about $58 dollars and I only spent $1.97. Here is a list of what I got:

2 Aussie shampoos

2 Aussie conditioners

17 Tic Tacs

16 Dial body washes

1 Sauve deoderant

2 Degree deoderants

2 Crunch bars

1 shave gel

4 Venus razors

I am feeling pretty excited about getting into coupons. Sorry if any of you are behind me in the shopping line. The lady that was behind me yesterday was actually pretty excited to see the result. She said to tell my husband to be proud to be married to such a thrifty shopper!! Lucky you Daniel!

My Baby Smiles

So, baby Max is really starting to smile a lot. It used to be that we would have to play with his face in order to get him to smile, but now we just have to talk to him and he'll do it. He especially likes Grandma Phister and smiles at her the most! Now we are just trying to get a giggle out of him. Maybe next week.

Baby Max on mothers day. Don't you just love his hat?

The Birth Story, cont'd....

So the baby was finally here. Like I was saying before, the actual labor and delivery was not that bad. It was the stuff that happened after that and the pains from healing from labor that were the worst.

Right after the baby was born the nurses did their thing and then they gave me my baby to hold. We took pictures and then after about 5-10 minutes the nurse told me that they needed to take the baby away from me to hook him up to a breathing tube. They said that he had swallowed some fluid in delivery and they needed to clear it out. They scared me by telling me all the things that could possible be wrong with him. So, they took him away and got him all hooked up to the machines to help get him better. Here is his picture:

All of our family and friends (including Daniel) who were waiting at the hospital were all standing at the nursery window watching the baby and I was in my room all by myself. It was kinda sad. I was scared about what was happening and nobody was there with me.

About an hour after the delivery, they got me moved to my recovery room. They let me stop at the nursery to see the baby and try to feed him. It broke my heart to see him like that. He hated the breathing tube and just cried and cried. He had a hard time eating with all the tubes in him. After a few minutes they took me to my room.

The first thing I wanted to do was get up and go to the bathroom. The nurse helped me in there and you all really don't need/want to hear the details, but I nearly passed out. Everytime I tried to get up after that I got really dizzy so from there I just decided to stop trying to get up. It was sad because I couldn't even go over to the nursery to feed the baby.

After about 6 hours they finally brought the baby back to me!!! And good news, I was finally able to get up out of bed without getting sick!! Things were definately looking up from then on. We stayed in the hospital until Friday morning and then finally got to go home. It was a VERY long week!

Baby is now 7 weeks old. He is 11 lbs, 12 oz. The doctor is surprised at how alert he is. He still has a "snort" from having fluid in his lungs but the doctor says he will grow out of it after 5 or 6 months.

I have been back at work for about a week now and Daniel is being the stay at home dad. He is such a good daddy!

The Birth Story.... Finally

On March 15th I went in for my normal weekly appointment. I was really hoping that the doctor would just keep me and induce me but I knew that there was really no chance of that happening. When we got there, the doctor did a Non Stress Test and we found that the baby's heart rate was at about 180 beats per minute. He sent us to go on a walk for 20 minutes and then we were to come back and test his heart again. It was still up in the 180's when we got back. The doctor said that he would feel better if he induced me that night. He wasn't super worried about the baby, but worried enough that he didn't want me to wait until my due date. Also, he was going out of town that weekend and didn't want me to have any problems and not have him there. I was so happy that I didn't have to go home with the baby still inside me!! I was miserable at this point.

So Daniel and I go home to pack up some things for our hospital stay and head back up to the hospital. I got checked in at 6:15 PM on Tuesday night and got hooked up to the pitocin. WE DID NOT SLEEP THE WHOLE ENTIRE NIGHT!!! Every hour or so the nurse would come in and raise my pitocin level until I was at the maximum amount. I wasn't in horrible pain, but still we didn't sleep. I don't know if I was just uncomfortable or nervous or what.

At 5:15 the next morning the doctor came in and broke my water. I had stayed dilated at a 3 ALL NIGHT LONG. That is when the fun began.... After that point I decided to finally get my epidural. I got it at 6:15. Earlier that morning I heard the girl in the next room just SCREAMING! I thought she was at the pushing part, but no, she was getting her epidural. She started screaming BEFORE the needle was even anywhere near her. That kinda freaked me out, but I knew I didn't want to try to push the baby out without one. Honestly though, the epidural was no big deal. It didn't hurt it just felt weird. Like an electric shock. My contractions were getting pretty fun at that point so I was glad that the epidural started working pretty quick.

After that, I went from a 3 to a 10 in about 5 hours which isn't normal at all for a first time mom. Also, I only had to push for a half hour! It really was not as bad as I was expecting (I'm sure the epidural helped more than I will ever know though).

To be Continued... with the After Birth Story/Hospital Experience!

Maxwell Daniel Phister

Finally, pictures from the BIG day!! Baby Max was born March 16th, 2011 at 11:56 AM. He weighed 8 lbs 5 oz and was 22 inches long! Enjoy!

Don't Talk To Or Touch The Wild Animals....

Well everyone, as I stated in my blog title, I have been living a lie. I went to my doctor appointment yesterday and found out that the March 13th due date I have been going off of since November was just a TYPO. The doctor has my due date written down as March 19th and he isn't budging. I was devastated. Now I know that 6 days doesn't seem like such a big deal to you all, but to a 9 month pregnant woman who has been depending on a certain thing (and planning around it) since NOVEMBER, it makes a HUGE difference. I was already convinced that this baby was never coming out of me and now I am even more sure. I cried the WHOLE way home from my appointment.

I know you all are thinking that I should just be grateful to have a healthy baby inside of me, and that I should be happy just to let him cook as long as he needs to. Don't get me wrong, I am very happy about those things. BUT... this mama bear is getting tired and ornery (not to mention, hormonal.) Daniel said for me to put up a sign saying "Don't talk to or touch the wild animals." I guess that will be my motto for the next few weeks....

The Waiting Game....

Any time now baby Max... ANY time.

To My Good Friend Holly.....

Dear Holly,
I remembered a picture you posted on your blog shortly before you had your baby last year. It's the one where you are holding your belly in agony in front of that brick building (do you know which one I am talking about?). So I pulled up your blog and I was reading your pregnancy posts and you really gave me some hope. This last month of pregnancy is going to be awful, I know, but your posts gave me hope that there is an end to pregnancy and that this baby will come out of me eventually. So, since I don't have your new phone number and I don't have access to facebook, I thought I would thank you on my blog. So... thank you Holly. I hope you read this.

Sincerely,
Annica

I Just Had A Weird Thought...

I just realized that as of tomorrow I will be able to say that I am having my baby "next month." It's getting so close!! Pictures of the nursery will be coming soon!!

32.4 Week Belly

Here I am! I have been horrible at taking pictures so far this pregnancy. I think it's because I feel so huge all the time. Enjoy!!

Baby Foot

I just thought I would post a picture of my baby's 32 week foot.

I think it's super cute! AND, just a side note. You may only be able to see 4 toes in this picture, but the doctor assured me that there are 5. He just couldnt get them all in one image.

GROSS!

So, my husband had a wrestling tournament last weekend so he had to shave his beard. They don't have rules on mustaches though.....

Personally, I think it looks awful. He gets a lot of laughs out of it though (he mainly did it as a joke). He said people were trying to take pictures of him without him seeing at his wrestling tournament. Anyway, I hope this joke is over soon. I like his beard MUCH better!

Worn Out

I feel so exhausted this morning! I really think this baby is starting to make me tired all the time again. Anyway, I have 9 weeks left (until I reach 40 weeks). 6 weeks left until I am at 37 weeks (which is technically full term). I am starting to get a little freaked out because I am coming to terms with the fact that this baby has to come out of me somehow, and I don't think it's going to be pleasant.

I have taken a couple pictures over the past couple weeks of my belly, but I don't have internet at home so I don't have a way to post them. Just to give you guys a mental image though, my belly measures 41 inches around. The other day I was wearing a purple shirt and someone at work said I look like a BIG GRAPE. I am too big to zip up any of my coats. Does that complete the picture for you? The good news is, NO STRETCH MARKS ON MY TUMMY YET!!!! (Although I do have some on my thighs and my "love handles."

Our current project at home is trying to find a place to put everything that was in the 2nd bedroom, in order to turn it into a nursery for baby. I shouldn't say current project because we technically haven't started it yet. I think about it all the time and even that is too exhausting. Hopefully my motivation will kick in soon (and hopefully before baby comes!!!).

Daniel has started his VERY LAST SEMESTER OF SCHOOL!!! He will be starting his student teaching in a couple weeks and graduating in APRIL! We are so excited! Also, we got a letter the other day from Weber State saying that Daniel made the honor roll for fall semester. Daniel was shocked! He said he didn't even realize Weber had an honor roll! Go Daniel!!!!