The Beginnings of a Nursery

After our adventure in Chicago, the real work began back at home. Matt and I began to tackle building the furniture we bought. We moved it all up into the nursery and started to unpack it. We decided to do the crib first since we figured it would probably be a little easier. The directions were all in pictures and stick figures (guess that solves the problem if having to print it in a million different languages). The crib directions showed 8 steps and only took us 30 minutes to put together. The dresser however showed 27 steps! We managed to get it built in an hour with only one cut finger and one scraped knuckle :) Now I just need to find a bookcase, rocker, and nightstand.

Crib done, dresser next...

Lil' man's duds so far

Finished crib (the white board under the crib is a toddler rail that we'll use to turn the crib into a daybed when lil' man is bigger) 

Thank you Emily for the cute toy from Japan!

Dresser put together with diaper changer on top

Cute little bug mobile to hang over diaper changer

The book that goes with the veggies in his bed, and his very own owl nightlight :)

His new ride, the Baby Jogger City Mini GT

A plethora of bedding choices (didn't want to go with a theme, so I just stuck to fun prints and bright colors)

As mentioned in my last update, I had been having occasional Braxton Hicks. Since Chicago I never really made it back to normal. Bad back pain, crampy abdominal pain on my sides, general discomfort, difficulty getting up and down. On Thursday (day three of 3 in a row at work) it was getting more painful as the day went on. I just figured I was tired and needed to get some rest. That afternoon I noticed that all of the sudden there was a large amount blood in my urine. I called my doctor's office and could not make it to their office that day for an appointment before closing time. After talking to Matt on the phone, we thought just to be safe that I should go on ahead and go to the ER and get everything checked out. You can never be too careful with a baby on board.

Since I am now past the 1/2 way mark of pregnancy (20 weeks!) I was sent to Labor & Delivery to be taken care of and so Baby could be monitored. Again, my doctor was the one on call for the night! Every thing initially looked reassuring, but to be safe Dr. Piquard put in orders to have me admitted overnight for observation. Bummer. An infection was ruled out first, although I got a dose of IV antibiotics anyways. The next guess was kidney stones. My renal ultrasound didn't show anything, but as the day turned to night I could definitely tell you this was indeed a kidney stone.  I only had 1 contraction during observation, my vital signs were fine, and baby was stable too. Based on this, Dr. Piquard agreed to let me go home. Matt drove straight from the airport to the hospital to pick me up with our friends, Scott and Emily, in tow (they were in town and staying with us for part of the weekend). 

I've since had a few kidney stones work their way through, and I'm waiting on another to finish its business and move on. Apparently they've been having a party in my kidneys. I've been drinking so much water since Thursday I feel like I could have drained a large swimming pool, and the taste of water is getting so old. Not that water tasted great to start with. I really should just be thanking God that I have access to this much clean water, so many people in our world do not.

In light of all the recent drama Matt asked me, "So after all this, do you still want more kids?" My response, "This doesn't even count. We're just getting started. Ask me again when we have a 1 year old."

In other news, Matt finally felt lil' man kick last night!! It was the coolest thing. Lil' man always starts his Chuck Norris moves when I lay down for the night. So I just layed still while we waited for a good strong kick. There were a lot Matt didn't feel, but there was one that he definitely did. I've been feeling him move pretty consistently since about 17 1/2 weeks, but I feel him more often now than I used to, which is pretty awesome. I've felt him move just a few times from the outside too. I'm looking forward to when Matt can feel him move a little better, and when we can see my belly move in response to those stretches and kicks :) I love him already, and I've never even met him. Crazy how that works. I can already hear in the back of my head my mom saying things like "You'll understand once you have kids". Yes Mom, I'm starting to understand. PS- I don't need an "I told you so" to go along with it :)

20 weeks 5 days (it was rainy outside so this was our substitute)