Grandpa Stan

Brad's family has had a very rough few months. Stan Yates, Brad's step-grandpa, was diagnosed with cancer a while back. He had been fighting for months, with little results. Chemo would effect the cancer for a day or so, and his "bad" numbers would sky rocket a few days later. 

Brad and I rushed home Friday night to go see grandpa Saturday morning. We received a text at 8 AM Saturday that Stan had passed away in the night. 

Stan was a strong man, fighting against something I could never imagine having to go through. 

Today Brad and his family laid Stan to rest. Brad said the funeral went well and that the family is doing good. Stan will be missed by us all, family gatherings won't be the same, but, we will adjust. Grandma Yates is holding up fairly well, despite the lack of sleep from the most recent hospital visit, and a severe cold that overcame her immune system due to what I would assume to be stress. Grandma is a strong woman though, and she stood by Stan's side the entire fight. 

Stan is no longer in pain, or suffering from his cancer. His battle is over and he has won! He's forever in the arms of his magnificent creator. I'm sure he's looking down on us smiling because his new life is so amazing. :)

Here are the Obituaries of Stan Yates.

http://siouxcityjournal.com/news/state-and-regional/obituaries/stanley-yates/article_7350409f-cecf-5212-b6ee-899a78322386.html

http://www.mfhonline.com/sitemaker/sites/MEMORI5/obit.cgi?user=763219Yates

18 Weeks and... and.... What was I saying?

Gah!

18 weeks. I CANNOT believe how fast the time is FLYING by!
I'm enjoying this whole pregnancy thing so much I am not ready to say it....
My bun is almost half way cooked!

aaaaaand.... I totally don't know where I was going with that.

Anyways. PREGGY BRAIN has taken over. Officially. I can't keep right from left anymore.
I'll be typing a paper or report for a class... and I will completely start typing something that has absolutely no relevance to the topic the paper is supposed to be on. For example: today I was writing up a lab report for AnSci 425 which is super swine.... as I was proof reading through it tonight.... I noticed I completely switched from swine to my AnSci 411 information on Meatless Mondays in the K-12 school lunch program.... WTH.

Well, I just finished my 425 report and it was supposed to have been done an hour ago. Whatevs.

18 weeks. I can't believe it. I hate to admit it but I am totally starting to show. Just within the last couple of weeks I have noticed a drastic change in my midsection size. My t-shirts officially are tight on me... welp. I guess it's time to go... SHOPPING! Haha. My mom bought me some maternity clothes online and delivered them a couple of weeks ago. Needless to say, I'm not big enough yet to fill out maternity shirts, but I'm sure the day is fast approaching. On the bright side... I'm still squeezing into my regular jeans. Sure, the buttons no longer get used and I always need a belt, but, eh, I'll take it!

I never figured I'd be the happy pregnant type... but even with the few troubles that I have. I'm loving it. Sure, the ribs are killing me and the charlie horses are the devils spawn... but I'm surviving! and I'm loving every minute. The kicking has really picked up this past week. I am now feeling it a lot more often. I get kicked on average I'd say probably 15-20 times an hour. Hehe. It still makes me chuckle! As we speak, the little fart is settling down for bedtime... (at least I hope) and it's kicking and pawing its way into the nest. :-D

Today I had the career fair, and I was able to talk to multiple swine production companies that have facilities in SW Iowa. Hopefully I'll be hearing something back from some of them about a future career. I may be pregnant, but baby Punt is not stopping me from finding a job. I'm just going to keep chugging through it. CHOO CHOO.

Anyways: Here is the Photo of the Week!

Week 17... is it Soccer Season?!

AAAH!

17 weeks down! My oh my how the time is flying by. I cannot believe that in just 3 weeks Brad and I will know...

It's crazy to think that our little one is about 5 inches long and weighs nearly 5 ounces... that's just over a quarter of a pound!

I also find it crazy to think that every day the babies bones grown thicker and stronger, transitioning from cartilage to bone.

Another interesting fact I learned this week is that Baby Punt is practicing sucking and swallowing... preparing for birth already... eh?




Each and every week I get these calendar updates on my email telling me all of these interesting facts. I love learning about what baby Punt is doing inside that den. of "it's"... his?... her's?....  Whatever. I'm getting more and more excited as the days go by to learn if there will be a Mini Brad or Mini Me!

As I was reading through my updates... it began talking about snoring. And NO... I DO NOT SNORE... but this quote made me laugh out loud in the middle of the office today. I got stares of "retardation" from the 4 grad students I share it with....


And I Quote: "If your partner finds your new snoring habit about as sexy as a hippo in a thong (which, by the way, you're starting to feel like), take heart. " 

I DO NOT SNORE... yet. :s. Ask Brad... he may feel differently about this subject. I'm not sure. After all, he's not home enough to notice! (I mean that jokingly... not as in... my husbands never home, I may as well change my relationship status to "single" kind of way...) It's just the name of the Cattle Business game. 

Another thing I learned this week was about the dreaded (dun, dun, dun)... STRETCH MARKS. 

GULP. Ok ok. I already know I'm screwed on this exam. I've been told that escaping them is pure luck. I've also been told they're hereditary. Well.. If they're hereditary... hand me that F because I know they're coming. If its luck... you may as well hand me an F again... because this pregnancy stuff has been extremely nice to me so far and I know "fits gunna hit the shan" eventually. 

So last week I was talking about fluttering and movements that Punt Jr. has been conducting inside of my uterus. I also mentioned that I was so excited to feel the kicks of the little one. Well. I have been extremely blessed so far this week on that part. As my heading says... "Is it soccer season!?"... because that's sure how it's beginning to feel. I have really been able to notice kicking these past couple of days as I'm sitting down and relaxing or just sitting in class. The first few kicks I really didn't know what I was feeling. They felt like someone was just kinda sorta poking me in the belly, but I've come to realize its mini Punt trying to get my attention. Even as I write this post I've been welcomed by a little sea monster pogo-sticking inside of me. It's kinda silly of me but when its the "boom boom boom" kicks it takes me by surprise. My favorite kicks are the ones that are "boom............... boom boom...............................boom" and they are all spread out and sporadic. Either way, it has been quite exciting these past few days for me. :)  

I started wondering yesterday... when I realized that my stomach was making obnoxious noises... what does it sound like in there?!?! I mean... my stomach growling makes me chuckle... but if I was stuck in that uterus I'd probably be thinking "get me out before Sasquatch eats me!" Hehe. It just makes me chuckle thinking about it. For any of you who know Brad... I just imagine a mini Brad inside of me and the crap that little turd would be thinking..... If this baby is anything like it's father... welp... We may as well as start our own TV show on Comedy Central. 

Here's week 17's photo! The bump is definitely growing! 

Ugh. Anyway. 4:30 and I am shot. I have a large lab practical (exam) tomorrow for my meats lab so I better sign off of here for now before I type a 28 page review over the last week of my pregnancy. School takes preference for the next 8 weeks and then I get to enter "grownup" world. eek. 

Later Gater's.

Roz 

Week 16... slipped by!

Whew. Ok. I hate to make excuses for not posting every week on the week... but school has been extremely hectic lately. Eek. Graduation is just around the corner! I'm already half way done with the semester!

Monday morning Brad and I had our 3rd OBGYN appointment. We thought I was supposed to have blood drawn to finish our genetic testing for genetic diseases, but, the Dr. said they don't do it until a Minimum of 16 weeks. Well.. I was 15 weeks and 6 days.... A DAY SHORT. So... On November 1st I will have my blood drawn (20 weeks) AND we get to find out the gender!

The baby's heart beat slowed down a little bit to 150. The Dr. said this was pretty normal, and that we should start making our guesses on the sex of the baby! I am SO looking forward to finding out!

I started having really bad rib aches and pains about 2 weeks ago (at about 14 weeks). I had called the Dr's office and talked to a nurse and she thought that this was probably due to having a lot of movement of my inner organs because the baby is starting to really take up some room. On Monday, the Dr. diagnosed me with intercostal inflammation. This is swelling in the muscles between my ribs due to pressure from the baby. I was informed that I can take Tylenol when the pain gets overbearingly painful, but not to rely on Tylenol for a relief. I have been using a heating pad when I go to bed to help me relax a little. I cannot sleep on my left side at all due to pain, and sitting through class all day really doesn't help the issue. I also have been having a hard time riding in the car as the position of sitting causes my ribs to push out even more. I am starting to get accustomed to the pain, but it is still a nuisance.

Overall, the ribs have been my only major symptoms of pregnancy... or at least its the only one that really affects my daily life and annoys me. I have had a pretty calm pregnancy so far... and that makes me think that  this child is going to be hellacious when it comes out! haha. I love being pregnant though.. so far. Everyone has told me that pregnancy is the hardest thing you'll go through.. but I've been actually enjoying it. I'm so excited to meet the little guy/gal and I'm really looking forward to the parenting process. ... call me crazy... I know.

I'm starting to really feel movements now, and it kinda freaked me out for a few days, but now I'm getting used to it. I really feel it when I'm sitting on the couch or sitting in class. I can also feel it shortly after I eat a meal that is super filling. I'm so excited to start feeling the kid kick! :) ... until the excitement wears off... but I'm sure that will be a while.

Here is a 16 week picture! I will be sure to post another picture next week so you all can see my growth!

15 Weeks... 25 to go! :D

Phwe- These past couple of weeks have slipped by.

Over the last couple of weeks there hasn't been much change. I am starting to grow out of the "awkward" stage where people can start guessing that I'm actually pregnant and not just gaining weight, specifically in my waistline. Brad and I haven't been to the Dr. in 3 weeks. We have our 16 week appointment on Monday, so that will be exciting. We'll get an update on the heart beat, and we will have more blood drawn for our genetic testing for the possible genetic disorders (see previous posts).

As the time gets closer and closer Brad and I start realizing more and more things that will need to be changed in our daily routines with a baby around. I've been sleeping better lately since my last Dr's appointment. I have been trying to stay up until after 9PM which usually results in me sleeping soundly until around 6AM, but every once in a while I'll be awake around 3 or 4 AM. I've been finding myself less and less tired these days also, which is helping the sleeping issues a little bit. My sleeping methods drive Brad CRAZY now because I have to have a flock of pillows around me just to get comfortable. Brad hates it because he's gone all week, so to fill his spot I use pillows for comfort. When he's home on the weekends I'm either completely leaning up against him or he's getting shoved off of the bed by pillows. hehe. my bad.

The dreams are really starting to catch up to me. My hormones must really be going when I'm asleep. I have had more dreams that I can't even imagine what caused them to arise. Totally random stuff. My first dream was about me and my family when I was visiting over Christmas. I was ready to give birth (even though at Christmas I'll only be 6 months along)... And one night while we were celebrating at my dads house we were chased into the basement by aliens. Everyone else in my family then became pregnant (including Dad and Brad) and then the next night the Aliens cut out their green slimy babies from all of our bellies and left us. Then I woke up. The End. These dreams are SO weird.

I'm going to start trying to take pictures every week so that I can see my growth. Everyone else says its noticeable week by week that I'm growing. I haven't been able to notice much, besides the fact that my jeans keep getting tighter and tighter. I've turned to sweat pants for my comfort clothes. When I'm not at school (some days even then...) I'm wearing sweats or shorts and a t-shirt. Jeans just don't fit right anymore. ha.

Anyways. I'll update again next week after our 16 week appointment. We're getting closer and closer to our half way mark, and we're excited to find out the gender of baby Punt. Here's a picture at 15 Weeks!

13 Weeks, 1 Day

Again, Tuesday got away from me and I find myself writing week 13's post a day late. Sorry! :)

This past week has been so SLOW. Brad and I had a check up last week Thursday. All is good. They took my weight and I gained 3 pounds the last 3 weeks. I'm up a total of 9 pounds from my "beginning" weight which we considered as my consistent weight for the last year since I haven't fluxuated much. My Doctor said that a majority of my weight gain is due to water uptake. Baby shouldn't be weighing quite at a half of a pound yet (anywhere from 5-8 oz Dr. said).

As much as I don't want to admit this, my gas gauge seems to be "full" at all times. hehehe. Even Maddie and Shepp have been  turning their noses up at me.... oh well. Doctor said it's normal for one to pass gas more often, so I blame it on the baby! I have also started new cravings within the past week. My largest, most ugliest craving of all though, is a tuna salad sandwich. Ugh. Just typing that makes my mouth water. My doctor has said I need to limit fish intake to 3 oz a week. I've decided this equals about 1/2 of a tuna salad sandwich a week... which doesn't fulfill my craving.

Sleep has started to become... uncomfortable?.... As much as I would love to sleep 20 hours a day and never get out of bed, I find myself restless during the night and not able to find a comfortable position. Having to transition from a belly sleeper to a side sleeper is killing me. My Dr. last week ordered me to start staying up past 930 PM (at the earliest) and trying to stay awake up until 11 even. I have been so tired at night that 730/800 bed times have been normal, but as a result I was waking up at 300/400 in the morning and being restless and done sleeping for the night. I started staying up later and find myself able to sleep up until 500/600 each morning now. The only problem with this is I fall back asleep around 630/645 and my alarm goes off at 700, which puts me back into my tired mode. Whatever! I'm getting used to it. Everyone keeps telling me "this is the transition into NEVER getting another full nights sleep, EVER AGAIN..."...... i don't know if i like hearing this....

Our next appointment isn't until October 1, which is just another regular check up. I'm hoping that I will start feeling squirms and wiggles here within the next couple of weeks. I'm excited for it to start kicking... kind of. But, I'll report up again next Tuesday!

TaTa for Now!

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12 Weeks, 1 day

EEK!

Sorry everyone, I seriously ran out of time yesterday for me to blog. I had way too much going on at school to have any extra free time to sit around and type out a long story for you all....

So today will have to be it instead.

This past week has been an up and down rollercoaster of emotions. The sickness is starting to subside and I am starting to feel "normal" again. I can no longer do heat I have learned because I overheat very quickly and then I get dizzy and weird feeling.

Friday morning Brad and I had a doctor's appointment as many of you read from my previous post. I was very nervous for this and was afraid as to what the "genetic testing" included. I was afraid they were going to stick this 12" needle into my tummy and pull out blood or something (the horror stories I had come up with).... Well, it ends up they just needed 1) Blood! and 2) and ULTRASOUND! whoo.

Brad and I were super excited when the lady pulled out the sonogram machine and was talking about taking pictures for us and everything. I had absolutely no idea that we were going to be able to see our little human swimming around. The sonographer looked at my uterus, ovaries, and whatever else she saw (I mainly just saw black and white lines all over the screen), and then she found baby! My heart seriously about went flying through the roof. She first measured the heart beat, which was racing at 153 (21 beats lower than at 9 wks, 3 days) beats per minute. The also measured the body length from forehead to buttocks to make sure we were measuring in with our "timeline". The sonographer informed us we are measuring in at 5.06 cm, which is just over 2 inches long! :) She also told us that we are actually measuring in at 11weeks 5 days and we were only at 11weeks 3 days.... so I hope the little tyke doesn't grow too quickly! The thought of an 11 lb baby kinda freaks me out a little bit! =/ hehe. Oh well.

We then needed to get measurements of the head circumference and the length of the head. This was easy for the sonographer to do as the head is a very easy body part to locate. The next part was a challenge though. She needed to find the base of the neck so that she could measure the spine thickness just below the brain...... Well. Baby didn't want to lay on it's back and was laying on it's side. The sonographer tried poking me in the belly to get it to roll around, but it was fast asleep and did not want to be woken up. The sonographer then asked me to cough. Can anyone else NOT cough on demand.... I ended up laughing more than coughing! Well. Ends up. Baby didn't like me coughing, and then started throwing its fists and kicking its legs around and doing cartwheels and jumps and bumps inside of me.... (and I didn't feel a thing....). We eventually got baby to lay on its back, and she got the spine measurement which was .2 cm which she said was right on track according to the due date.

This is baby laying on it's back. You can see a hand up by the face and then one of it's little feed down by its tummy. 

This is a facial shot of baby. You can see both of the little hands on either side of its chest/neck area, and the head you can make out, but you can just barely see the eyes and mouth taking shape! 

I must admit. The Ultrasound was my favorite part of that Dr. appointment!

Friday night Brad and I got to hit up some supper with some friends in Sioux City as we went and visited Brad's grandpa in the hospital. Of course, I took the pictures along and showed off our little human to them. Grandma seemed extremely thrilled and excited to see the pictures. Saturday, Sunday, and Monday were all weekend days for me and I got to sit at home, relax, and do NOTHING, which was amazing. I find myself sleeping a LOT more these days and I wear down quickly. NAPS are my new best friend when I get home from school in the evenings.

Brad and I have a regular Dr. appointment tomorrow in Des Moines. This will just be another check up, hear beat monitoring, and the usual stuff (I think). We're not expecting another ultrasound until 20 weeks, which is when we will find out if its a boy or girl! Yes, we have decided to find out the sex, and yes, we are going to make it public. :) Brad and I have also started talking about NAMES! :) So far we have a girl name picked out, but we haven't really settled on a boy name yet. And NO, these names will NOT be made public! They are completely a surprise for birth-day!

I'll let you know how the Dr. appointment tomorrow goes on next weeks update!

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